Rory Fresco & CashMoneyAP - "Rare Form" Stream

Rare Form cover art by Spicy Rico.

Kansas City *airplane emoji* Los Angeles rapper-producer Rory Fresco's sixth full-length project is by far his best yet. Rare Form, a collaboration with French-born producer CashMoneyAP, was released this past Friday. It includes 12 songs that barely creep past the two-minute mark, makes room for zero features, and is all the better for it. Instead, Rory relies on the hitmaking know-how of AP, his own extensive pop smarts, and a few choice co-producers to cook up a record of fat-free, bite-sized bangers.

 

Rory has always talked a big game in his raps, but Rare Form sees him walking the walk, bolstered now by a half-decade of industry experience and achievements. The hook of the opening track cleverly juxtaposes his scary, "Spider"-like abilities and his detractors, that are unfortunately just "web based." "Facts" -- which features assists from UK drill producer 808Melo and Chicago drill favorite Luca Vialli -- paints a real picture. You may first chuckle at a bar like, "She doing tricks with her tongue while she givin' me head / She playin' mind games," but it further solidifies Rory's specific type of high-school-jock-meets-unruly-rockstar persona that he's long been crafting. And while "rockstar" remains a bit of a buzzword in mainstream hip-hop, Rory's attitude and his longstanding appreciation for guitars -- dating back to his 2016 project Mad World, and not absent at all on Rare Form -- do more than enough to back up his claim to the title.

Throughout the project's 28-minute run, Rory and AP fuse the type of pop-rap tunefulness and trap-inspired toughness that are currently dominating the radio. It makes sense, considering AP is responsible in part for DaBaby's "Pop Star" and multiple tracks by Roddy Ricch. Frequent DaBaby collaborator Jetsonmade himself even materializes on "I'm Him," giving the track his trademark bounce. Later, on back-to-back tracks "Prom Date" and "FR," "Old Town Road" producer YoungKio drops in, and while it's not fully evident which specific elements he's responsible for, the end results are predictably catchy.

Though Rare Form hasn't immediately landed on the charts, the fact that its lead single "Signs" already has nearly 100,000 plays on Spotify is encouraging. Rory and AP's talent considered, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the project become a late bloomer like many hits from the past couple years have. Regardless, the duo has created an album that is highly replayable and will likely become a milemarker in Rory's burgeoning career.

Stream Rare Form below or on any digital streaming platform.

 

RORY FRESCO · Rare Form