Curren$y, Verde Terrace

Back already? Less than two months after dropping Weekend at Burnies, his Warner Bros. label debut, Curren$y has come through with Verde Terrace, a 14 track mixtape hosted by Gangsta Grillz top dog, DJ Drama. Since the release of Pilot Talk in July of 2010, Jet Life Captain Curren$y has been an absolute workhorse, with this his sixth project of the past 13 months.

On Verde Terrace, Spitta tackles a variety of instrumentals, ranging from original production to putting his spin on other artists' records. In typical Spitta fashion, he elects not to rap over the current “industry” beats, instead opting to ride out on a smorgasbord of records, ranging from Outkast’s “Elevators,” to Max B’s “Why You Do That,” to Jay-Z’s “Stick 2 the Script.”

The New Orleans native flexes his adaptability throughout the mixtape, coasting through some high-octane tracks like “Pinifarina” and “Car Talk,” that take him out of his generally sedated element. While the subject matter hasn’t changed much from weed, cars, and aviation, his delivery and cleverness are as sharp as ever. Curren$y isn’t an artist who stands out because of what he talks about, but rather because of how he talks about it. On “Pinafarina,” a remix of Maybach Music Group’s “Pandemonium,” he delivers a wordplay clinic, rapping, “Spitta get lifted like sanctions/Vocabulary gangsta/My ink pen has shanked men.”

Despite being a strong compilation of tracks individually, Verde Terrace lacks the cohesive magic that Curren$y has found on projects on which he teams up exclusively with one producer. Nevertheless, with Spitta continuing to release such quality music on such a consistent basis, the former XXL Freshman is quietly putting together one of the more impressive catalogs around. Though he may still be flying under the radar of the mainstream, Curren$y seems content just to be in flight. Either way, the jets aren’t landing anytime soon. —Neil Martinez-Belkin