Brent Faiyaz is the man within the membership who appears mysterious and is aware of it. He’s received the moody-yet-cool lane on lock, and it’s made him one of the crucial distinguished males in R&B proper now. There’s nothing too deep about it, however when it really works, it’s like his life is a Scorsese montage of short-term relationships that finish along with his suitcase getting tossed out the window. His velvety speak-sing gained’t blow you away—particularly in case you have been raised in a crib the place weekends have been soundtracked by the supernatural smoothness of Luther and such—however it’s effortlessly fly. As a songwriter, the Maryland native relishes in being the villain (it gained’t come as a shock that he has stated he “grew up on Max B and Dipset”). Within the course of his title has turn out to be a descriptor of its personal—for the sort of dude who’ll play video games together with your coronary heart.

What retains the fuckery in Brent Faiyaz’s music feeling like actual life as a substitute of picture maintenance is the setting. Since his breakout second with the silky hook on “Crew”—with D.C. rappers GoldLink and Shy Glizzy—there’s been a way that even when certainly one of his late-night adventures takes place in L.A. or New York, all roads lead again to D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. On the heels of final yr’s underwhelming however extraordinarily in style Wasteland comes Bigger Than Life, a life-is-good album the place Faiyaz may simply have chosen to pop champagne to his success by bringing all of at this time’s strongest rap and R&B artists into the fold. As an alternative he pays homage to his residence by getting each regional pioneers and up-and-comers concerned in his mess.

To underline the purpose, Bigger Than Life kicks off with a kind of timeless intros from Virginia Seashore’s Timbaland that sounds prefer it’s been ripped off an answering machine. As soon as the smoke clears for Faiyaz’s naturally icy croons, the instantly recognizable pattern is TLC’s “No Scrubs,” which seems like a jittery Timbo beat however in fact isn’t. No context mandatory, although: Faiyaz’s conversational and flirtatious supply is as crisp as ever. That’s adopted up by “Final One Left,” one other apparent flip, this one derived from Timbo’s beat for Missy Elliott’s “Loopy Emotions.” (Missy, one other Virginia native, is right here too, principally re-recording the cascading hook of the unique.) What may have been simply karaoke is spiced up by a reasonably batshit verse the place Faiyaz lectures some poor lady about getting relationship recommendation from her mates: “In the event that they gon’ run yo’ life, then get your ass out of mine,” he sings sweetly, as if he’s not in full guilt-trip mode. Tacked on on the finish is rising Maryland rapper Lil Grey, spitting a kind of radio-friendly visitor options you would anticipate from Fabolous or Fats Joe within the early 2000s.