By Martin Castro (The Cascade) – Email
Live & Grow, the debut album from California rapper Casey Veggies, starts with his father’s voice, briefly giving the listener an insight into the college aspirations that Casey’s parents had for him. Then, over a smooth bass line, we hear Casey: “Picture me on my side of town with the top down and I’m riding / AC on cause it’s hot outside, got a bad one beside me.” Throughout Live & Grow, Casey gives the listener a relatively wide range of aesthetics, dipping in and out of soul-and funk-influenced beats while at the same time offering up lyricism that’s as fresh as it is audibly exciting.
The instrumentals on the record range from smooth, funky, bass-dependent tracks that immediately bring Los Angeles to mind (glossy and minimalist as far as percussion is concerned) to more trap-influenced instrumentals, which Casey seems to struggle to shine as brightly on. The result’s interesting regardless.
“Set it Off” isn’t immediately charismatic, but Casey’s delivery, relentless in its consistency, wills its way into the listener’s good graces. Snoop Dogg also tags on an endorsement of Casey at the end of the track, and, funny as it is, it seems out of place.
“Actin’ Up” sees Live & Grow really take off, as Casey embraces the instrumental and adopts the confidence that was so appealing throughout Life Changes. The chorus gives some melodic content to the otherwise pretty neutral track, and a verse by Dom Kennedy really pops midway through, paralleling Casey’s confident and energetic flow with a more grounded verse.
“Backflip,” which was one of the record’s first singles, continues the instrumental trend, but relies less on percussion. Although Casey delivers quality verses throughout, YG’s verse outshines Casey’s — not lyrically or content-wise, but because YG’s personality is overwhelmingly present, whereas Casey’s gets overshadowed fairly quickly. That said, Casey’s third verse does a great job of tying the track together.
The tracks where Casey really comes into his own are ones where the instrumental is as minimal as it can be. For example, “Wonderful,” which features a chorus by Ty Dolla $ign, sees Casey rely solely on his delivery to bring intensity to the track, which works endlessly in his favour; each one of his verses is full of energy and delivered with a degree of control that’s impressive for someone as relatively new as Veggies.
Casey really picked his features well for this project, including BJ the Chicago Kid on “Life Song,” where not only does BJ’s crooning smooth out the track, but Casey goes off, deliveringz a succession of verses, each of which surpasses the previous.
“Aw Man” brings the aesthetic of the record down to a grittier place, and while the instrumental is pretty much all percussion, Casey spits some of his hardest verses throughout the track. There’s not much that works against him in the track.
As a debut project, Live & Grow could have benefited from having more starkly memorable moments, but it works together in a way that leaves the listener anxious for Casey Veggies’ next release.
