This extended play was released on January 1st this year. The artist behind this project, whose name I feel uncomfortable saying, saw some major viral success last year when he released a single called FUCK ICE. Basically, it was a protest song sparked by the incredibly inhumane practices of ICE and Donald Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric. I was obviously intrigued when I heard that viral single, but when I found out that Deathbomb Arc, one of my favorite record labels, was distributing it on cassette, I knew that I had to check it out. I’ve only heard snippets of some of the songs, so I really don’t know how I’m gonna feel about this project. I’m writing this preamble literally one hour after it’s been released, so I haven’t seen any reception for it. Even if I end up not being crazy about the music here, I’m sure this will be a really fun project. Every song is produced by Dustin Cavazos.

1. Steal My Heart co-produced by Muffinologist

Honestly, this first song had my really worried because I do not like this track all. I genuinely think it’s really bad. I don’t know what instrument that is in the primary loop of the song, but it’s really grating to me. It kinda reminds me of the Yoshi’s Island theme. The sung hook from uh… I’ll just call him WBM I guess. Oh wait. His name is Manny. I don’t know why I haven’t just been calling him that. Anyway, I think his vocals on the hook are pretty unappealing. They kinda sound like Lil Yachty to me honestly. It has a similarly childlike atmosphere to it. The actual verse is pretty much the only tolerable aspect of the song to me. It’s not an amazing performance, but I think it’s pretty cool. If there’s one thing Manny has, it’s charisma. The content is a little fucked up I guess, but that’s not what bothered me. I just think the production and hook are really bad. In the song, Manny basically raps about how he’s not sorry to his ex for cheating, and that he has a glock waiting for anyone who tries to steal his heart. I guess in that respect it’s like a more hyperbolic version of something Future would rap about. This is coming from someone who never listens to Future though. Honestly, after listening a few more times, I don’t think this track is as terrible as I initially did, but I still don’t really enjoy it at all. It’s wack to me.

2. You A…

Thankfully, it’s smooth sailing from this point onward. I like every track aside from the opening song. This track in particular was previewed on Twitter a few days before the release of the full project, and I knew it was about to be something special. I really love the melodic guitar-driven production. If you didn’t understand English at all and you listened to this song, you’d probably think that it was another one of those trendy modern day Emo Rap songs popularized by artists like Lil Peep, XXXTENTACION, and Juice WRLD. Normally I hate that kinda stuff, but after hearing this song, I’ve come to realize that it’s mainly due to the subject matter. This track in particular is all about how the subject in question is bitchmade. Throughout the whole track, Manny is passionately singing about how his target is a bitch, and it’s awesome.

You a bitch
Does yo mama know you a bitch?
You a bitch
How can she not know you a bitch?
‘Cause she a bitch, that raised a bitch, ayy

It’s ingenious. The actual performance is catchy as hell too. His singing sounds really good, and the production is fantastic. I guess he’s not really doing anything new sonically here, but the combination of the somber Emo Trap instrumental mixed with the tongue-in-cheek, disrespectful lyrics makes for a very entertaining song. It’s fun as hell.

Shut the fuck up, you ain’t got nothin’ to say
Told her “take care,” but I am not Drake
You were born a bitch; it’s in your DNA
And when you wake up tomorrow you’re still bitchmade

Manny’s melodic delivery throughout this track just sounds really good too. On paper it probably sounds really ridiculous, and I guess it kind of is, but this shit is better than you’d probably expect it to be. I think it’s dope af.

3. Lil Vicente

This song is fun as hell. I don’t think I like it quite as much as the preceding track, but this shit is still super entertaining. Man, I wish I wasn’t alone on New Years when this dropped because if I was with my friends and we weren’t sober while listening to this, it’d be the most fun I’ve had in a long time. This shit just makes you wanna get up and dance like an idiot. The production kinda sounds like a mixture of Latin music and Hyphy shit from the Bay Area. Manny’s energetic delivery and bouncy yet straightforward flow get my head moving as soon as he starts rapping on this track. The verse is basically performed in Spanglish, so I don’t understand everything he says, but I can discern enough to still be thoroughly entertained. I’m not completely lost. I just can’t really transcribe a lot of the lyrics here because I’d be misspelling all the Spanish words. The song is short as hell. There’s only one verse sandwiched in between two recitals of the hook, but the shit’s still good. I like the hook a lot, and Manny’s performance on the verse is very good too. This shit is dope.

4. Self Love Song

I think this is my favorite track on the album. This song is fucking fire. I love the melodic instrumental, and the sung hook is catchy as hell. I don’t know what it is about the way this dude writes his lyrics, but it’s super endearing to me.

You can’t get my love, Maria
‘Cause you gon’ fold like a tortilla

It’s really silly, and usually songs that try to be humorous fail miserably for me, but this shit genuinely put a smile on my face. The hook is catchy as motherfuck, and I love the verse. Honestly, there’s not a single aspect of the song that I don’t like. I think the only thing that could make this better would be if it had another verse because it is very short. As a matter of fact, every song on this project is very short. The whole project is only about eleven minutes long, and none of the tracks reach three minutes in length. I guess that can be either a good or bad thing depending on your perspective. I don’t necessarily think it’s bad, but it does leave me wanting more. After hearing this track, I considered the idea of a remix, but I’m not really sure who would fit on this. I’m not a fan of artists like Bad Bunny or J. Balvin. I guess it’s kinda fucked up that those are immediately the two artists I think of. I don’t fuckin’ know. Who would work for something like this? There are other artists who have humorous music, but I can’t think of any that would fit in with this Latino theme. I’m sure there are artists who would work, but I’m not well versed enough to be able to name any. Sorry, I’m getting off topic. All you need to know is that I love this song, and it’s probably my favorite track on the project. I think it’s dope af.

5. En Mi Barrio

This isn’t really a highlight on the project for me, but I definitely like it to some extent. I feel like pretty much everything I said about track 3 applies to this one. The production has a similar style, and the hook is catchy as hell. This shit had me dancing around my room like a dumbass at 2 in the morning on January 1st.

En mi barrio we don’t fuck with police
Choppas on deck just like Zack & Cody

After listening to this song more extensively, I feel like YG would make a lot of sense for a remix. Actually, fuck that. He’d make a lot more sense for the next track. Anyway, I know I didn’t really say much about this track, but that’s because I don’t really think it stands out that much from the rest of the material here. It’s pretty straightforward. I definitely like it though. It’s pretty good.

6. FUCK ICE 2 co-produced by JValley

If I’m not mistaken, this is the most popular song Manny has ever released as of January 1st. As I said earlier, it’s a protest song targeting the Trump administration, and ICE in particular. The reason I said that YG would be a good feature for this song is because he already has a history of dissing Donald Trump in his music. However, now that I think about it, maybe he wouldn’t be the best feature after all because I don’t even really like Fuck Donald Trump. I can definitely get behind the sentiment of the song, but I don’t really think it was well executed. He didn’t say anything poignant. I guess you could arguably say the same thing about this song, but I think Manny is just a more entertaining songwriter and for whatever reason I feel like he has more passion behind the content. He also doesn’t seem to be taking himself too seriously. There were barely any traces of wit in FDT. It was basically just YG saying “Trump is bad.” With this song, Manny says “Trump and Ice are bad and I’m gonna insult them, and you’re gonna have fun while I do it.” The line about melting an ICE agent seemed like such an obvious metaphor to me when I first heard it, and I was like “how has no one said that before?” It’s one of those situations where something is so perfect and such a no brainer that you’re shocked it hasn’t already been done. The whole first verse is great.

Bitch, I was born for this shit
Came out the womb with a glock & a dick
Bitch, I was born for this shit
I been screaming “FUCK ICE” since I was a jit

The song was already fire, but when the beat switched up after a minute and twenty seconds I lost it. The production is fantastic, and this part of the song was just the icing on the cake. It went from being “dope” to being “dope af.” I guess that extended outro is what makes FUCK ICE 2 different from the first FUCK ICE song. I think it would’ve been an even better song if he actually spit a new verse over the second beat, but the track is still fantastic to me. I think it’s dope af. 😀

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This project is pretty good. Again, I was very nervous after hearing the first song because I do not like that track at all, but the rest of the project is thankfully very enjoyable to me. This is one of the most fun projects I’ve heard in a long time. It’s nice to start the year off on a high note with this EP. I think that a full fledged album from Manny would need to have some more substantial song structures with tracks that actually had more than one verse. This kinda feels like a demo tape. It was a successful demo though because I’m satisfied, and I’m looking forward to his future work. I’m hoping he’s able to maintain the humorous and fun atmosphere for a full project, but we’ll see. I think he should continue working with that Dustin Cavazos guy because they seem to work well together. I think he fits these beats really well. Dustin is able to incorporate that Hyphy sound without being incredibly repetitive and generic like DJ Mustard. If you choose to listen to this record—which you should—you can’t really go into it expecting to hear some super deep, abstract lyricism. This is just a fun collection of playful songs with a Punk attitude, and influences ranging from Latin music to Emo Rap as well as Hyphy Bay Area type shit. This is currently my favorite project of the decade. I guess by that logic it’s also technically my least favorite project of the decade as well. I like it a lot though. Don’t sleep on it. It’s dope.

Favorite Song: Self Love Song
Least Favorite Song: Steal My Heart

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