Sy ShacklefordNew York City/Toronto-based rapper Christopher BAP represents a dying breed of east coast rappers: The kind who recognize the two bare essentials of hip-hop music (dope beats, dope rhymes) and continuously practice at them. His latest album, “Charlie’s Son”, has autobiographical leanings delivered with sharp self-awareness and clever verses. Produced entirely by Swifty Jonez, the album’s sound is life experience translated to musical form with crafty lyrics sprinkled in. With a total of sixteen tracks, BAP doesn’t waste any of them, not even the interludes.
Starting with “Room Service”, the production has a lush R&B vibe to it as BAP intersperses the track with wordplay that takes a few listens to fully catch. BAP also frequently shouts out his label, Theo Records, evoking a time when your label was also your crew. “The Miami Connection” is a skit and the album’s shortest track, just a forty-second spoken word leading to the braggadocious “Nat Turner”. Drumless and consisting of an airy loop, BAP makes pop culture references while exhibiting uncommon themes for Black artists, like admissions of therapy sessions, something which should be more normalized in the Black community. The “Jack Herer Interlude” is a short boom-bap driven rap inspired by his time in Toronto.
“Poningo Street” has a creepy cinematic vibe about it with the vivid lyrics about police states and pissy stairwells, another track inspired by city iife, Port Chester, NY in this case. Next up is “Diadora Freestyle III”, a stream-of-consciousness lyrical fest with booming, jungle-esque production. “Television” is my favorite track on the album, as BAP makes copious TV entertainment nods to give a lens into his life and experience. The production gets points as well with the handclap snares and piano samples, though the interlude it switches up to halfway through could’ve been excised. As for “It’s a Thin Line”, BAP raps a melancholic rumination about relationship betrayal and how it constantly left him on guard from then on.
“Black Magic Interlude” has a sexy groove to the beat, which is appropriate considering the lascivious nature of the lyrics. “Charlie’s Son Freestyle” begins with an a Capella freestyle for over a minute before the layered 808 bouncy beat drops. BAP even adopts a southern twang to his flow and connecting with that, he raps “Ryan said they Sinners, ‘cause they bitin’ when they come.” The wistful guitar production. “Kyrie Irving” stands in contrast to the weaponized confidence of the lyrics, and BAP hopes you “catch every line, no second base.” A vintage sample loop comprises the beat for “Falling In”, in which BAP recounts his upbringing in harrowing detail with a syrupy flow.
Next up is the final quarter of the album beginning with “Nextels & Nutcrackers”, a soulful urban canvas for BAP to spit some grimy street poetry over. Swifty Jonez handles both the beat and the hook on this track. “Up The Way Flow” has an upbeat sound to its production as BAP spits hustler raps and boasts that his “every verse is a slug with a buckshot.” Speaking of which, “Shotgun” has BAP flexing his storytelling skills with a first-person narrative about getting caught and keeping things quiet. The final track is “Alumni Shit”, a very lush finisher with come-up raps and how it built BAP for life as an adult. All in all, “Charlie’s Son” is a New York rap album through and through. With no guest stars and just one producer, Christopher BAP’s proven to be an emcee who has no problem going for dolo to have some dope album releases.