At long last, Rapsody’s She Got Game is here, and the title says it all. With 16 tracks and nearly as many features, Rapsody holds her own alongside the likes of Common (“Feel Like (Love Love)”), Raekwon (“Coconut Oil”), Phonte and Jay Electronica (“Jedi Code”), Mac Miller (“Generation”), Ab-Soul and Nipsey Hussle (“Never Know”), Wale (“Dark Knights”), Chance The Rapper (“Lonely Thoughts”), and everyone else she brings along for the ride. The production is handled largely by 9th Wonder and the Soul Council – including Khrysis, Eric G, E. Jones, and Ka$h – but also features production from D12’s Mr. Porter and the legendary DJ Premier.
Overall, the mixtape showcases a continued increase in confidence from Rapsody on the mic – as seen on tracks like “Thank You Very Much”, “Never Fail” and “Jedi Code”, the sheer bravado we saw from Rapsody on The Idea of Beautiful‘s “NonFiction” is back in full effect, and she’s got the lyrical skills to back it up. What’s more surprising to me is the sheer amount of thematic depth on She Got Game. When I had interviewed Rapsody, she downplayed any notion of She Got Game being a serious project:
Rapsody: It’s nothing that we really overthought, we just wanted to put out some more music. And 9th said, “people, they just wanna hear you rap.” I’m doing another album that’s coming out in the fall, so this is just something like me getting in the booth and having fun, getting all different kinds of beats and rapping on them, and working with some artists that I’ve wanted to work with. So I just wanted to put out something else and contribute to the new [laughs].
The unexpected depth to these songs – shown on tracks like “Lonely Thoughts”, “Generation” and “Special Way” – is an absolute bonus on the mixtape. It also goes to show that although Rapsody may have all the confidence in the world on the mic, she remains humble throughout. Final observation: Rapsody’s got game. Enough rambling, though. Stream and download She Got Game below.