With artists releasing songs at a fast and furious pace it’s difficult for the average hip-hop head to keep track of it all—no matter how tapped in they are. That’s why we created The Ones, a daily post to highlight the song you need to hear curated by the Levels team. We sort through all the new songs—across all the platforms and subgenres—so you don’t have to. Thank us later.
Swizz Beatz wants to make moments and his standout cut, “Something Dirty/Pic Got Us” from his new album Poison, feels like one. The iconic New York producer hands off the beatmaking keys to the underappreciated AraabMuzik for a horn-filled celebration. On the track, Swizz plays the role of the hypeman, setting the triumphant mood and wielding his animated ad-libs and backing vocals to ensure that the song never has a dull moment.
But the song is about the guests Swizz enlists uniting The Lox members Jadakiss and Styles P (sans Sheek Louch) and Kendrick Lamar for an unusual mix of generations. Surprisingly, Kendrick takes a back seat to Jadakiss and Styles P, as he captures the victory the beat signifies on the hook. Jadakiss and Styles P sound hungry, using their verses to prove why they are known as one of the best back-and-forth duos to ever set foot in hip-hop. They feed off of AraabMuzik’s knocking East Coast drums, eventually transitioning into a verse that will make you head nod like Jay-Z and Kanye in the making of “Lucifer” session as the Yonkers duo go line for line: “We be in the part of the party that get roped off/Mingle with the plug and the judge and knock ’em both off.” It’s a special collaboration that shows how Swizz Beatz’s ability to pay homage to the old school New York style he came up on and still make music for this current era is unmatched.
Check out previous Ones, and listen to new rap from Swizz Beatz and more on our Spotify playlist, Apple Music playlist, and SoundCloud playlist.
