Again when my homies used to fry me for listening to LUCKI, he was already a veteran of kinds. It was 2019, and I used to be 17 and gangly, continuously binging Freewave 3 between lessons. On the time, most individuals noticed LUCKI followers just like the man who takes an excessive amount of acid and retains asking you to journey with him; no one was going for it. Attempt pitching “Poker Face” to some dudes who’d relatively struggle over Child and Gunna, they usually’d take a look at you such as you body-swapped with Rick Rubin. Possibly I’m a veteran too. Freewave 3, the Chicago rapper’s eighth full-length since debuting in 2013, marked a shift. His music had at all times been brooding and oneiric, lovesick and drug-tinged, however listening to FW3 additionally felt like watching a NASCAR driver minimize up on the freeway. I get why LUCKI had at all times felt inaccessible: He slurred by way of bleak allegories about Percocet and rapped over foggy, sullen beats. However the hypnotic cachet of this document shifted the narrative round him from “perceived outcast” to the underground’s diamond within the tough.
Six years down the road, LUCKI is much extra ubiquitous than any fan from the Darkish Ages may’ve predicted: tens of millions of on-line followers, just a few RIAA plaques and Billboard 200 albums, et cetera. At present his beats lean extra in the direction of industry-grade road shit, however his lyrics are nonetheless unflinchingly trustworthy. Being well-known means he raps extra about wealth and Bentley vans than getting stomachaches from withdrawal, but the writing nonetheless feels private. After final yr’s GEMINI!, probably the most star-studded launch of his profession, LUCKI has resurfaced with “Unhealthy InFluence Freestyle,” a six-minute spherical robin of luxurious raps with mafioso finesse. Throughout three distinct instrumentals, he compresses memoirs into one-liners and acknowledges his progress with a smirk.
He’s now not making melancholy, post-Doris hip-hop, however in terms of shrewd, concise lyricism, LUCKI stays in the identical class as Earl and MIKE. “Pray to God when you excessive, however don’t overlook to provide thanks,” he imparts over piano pindrops and breezy percussion that seems like NBA Road Homecourt. The photographs he conjures really feel unique to him: He cops a Rolex for his mother understanding he can’t purchase her happiness; he loves his lil homies however is aware of higher than to provide out his telephone quantity. “I gave sufficient to them,” he shrugs. Over a menacing Michigan sort beat, he kicks a stream that stretches previous measures like a recreation of Snake, his stature rising with every breath. He’s not too huge to beg for his woman again, although. “Bae, I can’t lose you,” LUCKI pleads in a quick automotive, “Energy to the pinnacle with love/Nobody to provide it to.” The extra issues change, the extra they keep the identical, I suppose.
