Today was a day that really made me realize exactly why I love hip-hop and rap music. Some weeks can be slow for releases, but today was full of so many different artists dropping incredible music, I felt overwhelmed in the best way possible. I just couldn’t figure out where to start, but my solution was solved extremely quickly once I found out that Babyface Ray, one of the most elite emcees in the entire industry right now, dropped a deluxe version of his album FACE.
Now, the original was already as good as it gets, so I wasn’t sure how much better a few extra songs could have made it, but I didn’t even realize that he actually dropped 8 new tracks, enough to basically make another album if you ask other artists, and these records seem to get better and better as you continue listening.
I also love the strategy he utilized, because he decided to include features on four of these tunes while also leaving half of the new tracks for himself to enjoy without any guests. I have to mention, also, that the features he got for the deluxe were absolutely unbelievable, including Baroline, fellow Michigan phenom Veeze, the legend and fellow Michigan rap fanatic Lil Yachty, and my favorite of all the features, Chicago’s very own Lucki.
I feel like each of these features brings something totally different to the table while still making sense about why they were included, and I truly didn’t expect these 8 songs to make as much of an impact on me as they did, but I guess I should expect the highest results from Ray after seeing him dominate so consistently. Alongside the deluxe he even delivered a brand-new music video for the additional record “Family Over Money”, so make sure you check that out as soon as you give the new handful of songs a run-through.