SONREAL & RICH KIDD play the Rivoli on December 1. See listing. Rating: NNN
For their new collaborative LP, Toronto’s Rich Kidd and Vancouverite SonReal holed up in L.A. for seven days. That city’s skyward sheen and canny optimism are stamped all over The Closers, a poppy, song-driven, fully realized statement of ambition. It’s also the closest both SonReal and Rich (who produced about 70 per cent of the record) have gotten to something more ambitious and accessible, and they impress with the care they’ve put into writing songs – not tracks.
But The Closers isn’t about casting aside the up-north gristle (they don’t) or singing all the hooks (only some). The songwriters’ approach works here because they’re good at establishing structure (Fuck Yeah), writing hooks (Hometown) and distilling trends from the rap soundscape into something distinctly their own (Best Believe).
Plus, first single Money Money, one of the record’s hardest tunes, was produced by 16-year-old Wonda Gurl from Mississauga.
Top track: Money Money
