Weekend Money, “Nostrand”

Weekend Money is its own stimulus package to growing up with nothing. Baghdaddy makes beats from scratch, literally scratching objects against bike tires and microphones to create percussion, and Ne$$ finds his footing through the stories lived. With co-production from Hot Sugar (another producer who thrives off field recordings), "Nostrand" cruises slow through the neighborhood with the windows down to let that wonky bass set off car alarms along the boulevard.

Ne$$ likes to show off in the videos with his tinted shades and big furs, but his verses bare the anguish of a pusher who's seen too much in his day. Can't leave the life even if it worries his mother and won't leave it because she's making Costco wages, grandma is losing her home, and the cut-throat nature of the game has his territory compromised. In a tangential tear, Ne$$ lays out what it's all worth with "this the game, but not a game though / price is right but not a game show / it's more like how the saying go / from the frying pan to the flame, hoe / there's plain clothes / beat cops / swat teams / special ops / get too big and the feds will watch / shit dry out here / those some desert crops … fiend trying to sell me some stolen watches / it's ironic cuz the streets done stole his child".

To download "Nostrand" go here.