Mixtape Review: Casino – Frank Matthews, Courtesy of Skinny Friedman
Casino started out 2014 with a bang. First he guested on Flosstradamus’s “Mosh Pit”, an extremely timely meeting of trap rap and trap EDM. Then he closed out the gigantic Future/Mike Will/Pharrell/Pusha T banger “Move That Dope” with style. It doesn’t hurt that he’s Future’s brother, but he’s shown enough promise to comfortably ignore any claims of nepotism. Theses are the moves of an artist who quietly builing momentum while rapping as loud as possible.
Casino burst on the scene last year as part of Future’s Freeband Gang, with shout-rap verses on the original version of “Karate Chop”, “Whip Game” and most notably “Keep On Shinin”. The way he yelled “CASINO! EX-DRUG DEALER!” stood out so much he named his debut mixtape Ex-Drug Dealer despite the fact that it was largely about dealing drugs. Despite being its deceptive name, Dealer was awesome. Earlier this week, he followed it up with Frank Matthews.
The new tape finds Casino exploring his range. Ex-Drug Dealer showcased a dude cut from the same cloth as M.O.P. and Pastor Troy, a rapper whose charisma came from his lack of an indoor voice. It’s a different vibe than Flocka, whose ad-lib-heavy style transcends lyrics; Casino’s style is kind of crunk although if you want to nerd out about it, you could trace it back to the days of Run-DMC. On Frank Matthews, he’s still loud but has a little more control over the volume knob. At its best, he sounds like Gunplay in his less lyrical moments. He’s still rapping with brute force on tracks like “White” and “Hell You Talking Bout”, but he no longer sounds like a runaway train.
Like Ex-Drug Dealer, Casino spends Frank Matthews barreling through a bunch of fun tracks about street shit. He has a knack for hooks that rivals his brother’s; songs like “Communication”, “Selfish”, “Regardless” and “Pocket Watching” among many many others have choruses that stick with the listener. Ironically, this makes Frank a little monotonous as a stand-alone album. It’s a lot of anthemic bangers in a row and not much variation until a back-half full of guest spots. He switches it up on songs like the Miami-tinged “Speed Boat” (with well-deployed auto-tune) and the retrospective “Old Money” and “Success”, but it can be overwhelming.
The guest spots, by the way, are an interesting roster. Young Thug bodies the hook for “Communication” and delivers an unusually straightforward verse on “All This Money”. Diamond (previously of Crime Mob) sounds good sing-rapping over the fat bassline on “Do What I Wanna Do”. Young Scooter makes two appearances, the better of which is the nostalgic “Success”. Up and comer Lil Silk shows Young Thug’s influence on “Regardless” and hides his dope in a girl’s weave. I’d never heard of BMG Ty, but made a good impression on “Got The Feeling”.
With Frank Matthews, Casino shows some growth and the ability to make big records. Even if the tape is a little one-note, it’s a step forward and a good sign. It would not be surprising to see dude parlay his big voice into a big year.
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