SERPENTWITHFEET - GRIP

I don’t need no weed, I don’t need no liquor
I just wanna keep grind-grindin’ on my nigga
Whatever’s on his leg, good God, it’s gettin’ thicker
It’s gettin’ thicker

A few lines from "Damn Gloves," the single that Josiah Wise, known by the stage name serpentwihfeet, sings alongside his trusted collaborators Ty Dolla $ign and Yanga YaYa, would be enough to grasp just how many pages he's decided, unequivocally, to tear from his own logbook.
Wise's third album diverges from its predecessors right from the start, revealing itself to be both lighter in its rhythms and production choices, while at times denser on a narrative level.

“GRIP” is first and foremost a record that might (rightly) rub longtime serpentwithfeet fans the wrong way, both for the presence of some genuinely ill-judged passages — regardless of any comparison — such as “Rum/Throwback”, which sounds like it came out of a Post Malone, session, or the syrupy dawn serenade in r'n'b style of “Lucky Me”, and for the lack of real shape-shifting within the nuances, which ends up making the whole production feel stale.
Still, there are a few moments that bring back the “old” Wise, or at least restore his melodic verve. Starting with the sultry ballad “Safe World”, and especially “Hummin'”, a song that almost evokes Jamie Woon, which is always a very good thing.

Granted, this time around Wise explores sound only sparingly and tends to dwell heavily on the writing, offering the listener anecdotes, desires and fulfilled dreams of a love that never gives up. It's a take-it-or-leave-it choice, tired moments notwithstanding. In short, “Grip” is a half-resolved album, with its damn shadows and its pleasant light.

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10/03/2024