The high times of Curren$y

After years of label drama and grinding on the mixtape circuit, Curren$y has created his own refuge in the form of his Jets International label, a weed-rapper’s Neverland to Curren$y’s Peter Pan, a paradise meant for stoner bliss and infinite days of nothing but the same. Even Jet’s roster reads like a list of Lost Boys: slightly wayward or misfit emcees like Young Roddy, Trademark Da Skydiver, Fiend and Mikey Rocks (of Cool Kids fame), all getting lifted by Tinker Bell, which could just be the name of their cannabis.

“Jet World Order” combines the power of Jets International label under the name Jet Life, featuring both the full range of its artists and the production styles on which they work. Roddy and Trademark do the heaviest lifting on the LP, with writing credits on every single track. They sound remarkably comfortable doing it, not overdoing anything.

Nonchalance is an important element for verses pairing themselves with production from Monsta Beatz, Cookin’ Soul and Nesby Phips, a sleepy combination of elevator music instrumentation and ambient synth. Such spaced-out landscape makes it easy to stay chill, and Roddy and Trademark sound as such as they navigate their verses more reliant on wordplay and flow than imagery and speech — a hallmark of Curren$y’s style.

Mikey Rocks and Fiend, the other two vets, only show up once each on the album, on “1st Place” and “Picture Perfect,” respectively. Their appearances both do wonders — Rocks concocts a better weed analogy than even track-mate Curren$y (“I’m rolling up a inst-a-gram, pass-a-gram in one blunt/ Twenty for the point 5/ It’s like a brown bag lunch higher than the top bunk”), and Fiend’s super-methodical delivery helps invigorate a staler back half of the album.

“World Order” finds trouble in its second half, as its middling tempos and pretty production are fully capable of putting listeners to sleep. The Jet Life understudies are certainly more technically proficient than they were on last year’s Curren$y features, but their improvement is undermined by both a lack of diversity and description.
Perhaps the most predictable criticism of a primarily weed-rap album is predictability. It’s a little unfair to hold their lack of ambition in contempt when all they want to do is roll up and have a good time, and thankfully, “World Order” doesn’t aspire to be anything more than that: a perfectly rolled joint that’s meant solely to be enjoyed.