Your Old Droog
Movie
SELF-RELEASED
Unless Your Old Droog is misremembering things or low-key trolling, his new album Movie is the result of a surprisingly self-aware, if formulaic, vision. “I was sitting on my couch, and it just came to me—‘one day I’m going to make this seminal album called ‘Movie.’ It’s going to be a big deal,” he explained. Through multiple listens, his latest project does, indeed, feel more grand than its predecessors, even if, as he explained, it can seem a bit contrived. Since earning understandable Nas comparisons with his eponymous debut 10 years ago, the Brooklyn spitter has used a blend of imagistic lyricism and wry wit to paint lucid vignettes of the bodegas, dice games, and broken dreams that color his borough.
All of that’s still there on his aptly titled new album, but with more autobiographical detail and beats from Madlib, Just Blaze, and Harry Fraud, Droog’s got something more cinematic—and more personal—than anything he’s released to date. New layers of dreamy soundscapes embed Droog’s raps with more pathos across Movie. On “Mantra,” he renders the pain of an immigrant child with heart-wrenching nuance and specificity. Fraud’s misty soul beat hugs the vocals like an arm around the shoulder: “Dog, it really irks me, they don’t know the first thing about hardship and adversity,” raps the Ukraine-born emcee, “I had to point my finger to my mouth to tell my teacher I was thirsty.”
The beat-rhyme symbiosis doesn’t end there: “I Think I Love Her” merges a disembodied Michael Jackson sample with Droog’s bleary-eyed reminiscence; his growly tone imbues the sentimental theme with convincingly grizzled regret, a distinct touch that grants the track subtle emotional complexity. It’s all as skillfully written as it is personal, which feels refreshing. While Droog’s provided snapshots of his background, he’s generally operated in the realm of mystique. Coasting over reflective piano keys for “Grandmother’s Lessons,” he recalls the strength and wisdom of his granny, using dense imagery to sift through memories and sensations for a tale of love that never dies—even if your loved ones eventually will.
Of course, Droog still makes time to talk his shit. Produced by Madlib, “DBZ” is a masterful exercise in lyrical economy and braggadocio, with sinuous rhyme schemes careening into hyper-specific punchlines: “All in your feelings, so stop with them grilling looks / You ain’t no villain, you Dillon Brooks / Let me guess, you on your grizzly, trying to diss me / I’m looking at him like ’Bron, dog, who is he?” Combined with a stellar verse from Method Man and an OK one from Denzel Curry, it’s a screwface-inducing track that pulls you back into Droog’s B-boy roots.
Although his raps are usually sharp, the project can sometimes feel a bit ham-fisted—like he’s in pursuit of the statement-album every rapper supposedly needs to make at some point in their career. The Just Blaze–produced opener “Success & Power” features a jazzy funk sample that would’ve been at home on JAY-Z’s American Gangster, and the grand horns, dazed bells, and lush strings imbue Droog’s come-up story with a layer of justified gravitas. But the superimposed movie quotes about fame and success feel hackneyed; he might as well have used a scene from Scarface. When the album isn’t hindered by telegraphed bits like those, it’s subdued by unimaginative song structures and hooks that aren’t symbolic, rhythmic, or melodic enough to be memorable (see “What Else?”). Like many great wordsmiths, the choruses themselves can feel like flavorless bridges between verses rather than self-sustaining entities that carry their own merit.
The lapses in imagination don’t compromise the album as a whole, though. Everything’s generally tied together well by his attentive storytelling, casual charisma, and all-around flow dexterity. Laced with nimble rhymes, agile vocals, and writerly detail, it’s a project that reaffirms his place in New York’s extended neo-boom-bap era, even if it falls short of the stereotypical legend-making projects it aspires to reach. Movie might not be some landmark motion picture, but if you’re a true fan of the craft, it’s a flick that’s definitely worth watching.
