Bobby Shmurda can rap and has an incredible ear for beats. “Shmurda She Wrote” seems a bit rushed, but with more time and creative concepts, he’ll truly be an MC with staying power.
is what happens when preparedness meets good luck. The Brooklyn MC two-stepped onto the scene with the Jalil Beats-created track “Hot Nigga” and was an instant sensation. It wasn’t the lyrics about selling crack since he was in the 5th grade or how long it had been since he’s last shot someone that the public became enamored with. People gravitated toward the toothy rapper because in sweatpants and a white t-shirt, he “Shmoney” danced into our hearts and radio stations. There were memes galore and a glorified bidding war from record labels vetting the youngster.
Beyonce was doing the Shmoney dance and Slate wrote think pieces about the phenomenon. Bobby Shmurda was booked all over the country pretty immediately and he became a household name. The “Shmurda She Wrote” EP came out this week and is supposed to assure Shmoney dancing fans that this wasn’t all a fluke and that Bobby got rhymes. At a short five songs, including “Hot Nigga” and the second single, “Bobby Bitch,” the jury is still out on Bobby’s future. In the meantime, catchy dance be damned, Shmurda got rhymes and there’s no denying that.
No songs on the album compare to the cult hit “Hot Nigga” but there are some great parts. On “Living Life” Shmurda comes close. We see Shmurda get more creative with his rhymes and let the beat take a back-seat to his style. The track features Rowdy Rebel and is a more cohesive collaboration that twice-featured Ty Real. Real joins Bobby on the opening track “Worldwide Nigga” and while we get the concept, it feels like a cliché, intentional or not.
The project ends with “Wipe the Case Away,” a track that makes us wish we could hear Shmurda over a vintage Kanye West beat. The soul sampled track finds Bobby Shmurda and Ty Real rapping about having their lawyer make magic happen because they’ve got work to do. You might remember Shmurda got into some trouble back in June with a gun charge. This track laments his travel woes and how the legalities of the system impacts the money-making potential of the Shmurda empire.
Here’s the thing, Bobby Shmurda can rap and has an incredible ear for beats. “Shmurda She Wrote” seems a bit rushed. With more time and creative concepts, he’ll truly be an MC with staying power. In the meantime, “Hot Nigga” isn’t going anywhere so start practicing your Shmoney Dance now.
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Ru Johnson is an arts and culture music writer living in Denver. You can follow her on Twitter here.
