Patreon supporters received access to this review on October 3rd, 2024.

It is officially Deviants Week here at Focus Hip Hop! In other words, I’ll be covering releases from members of the Deviants collective from North Carolina. First up we have this latest single from Cloud Envy, which was released back on June 6th this year.

As you all remember, Cloud Envy’s last album made it onto my year-end list in 2021. I’m obviously very biased since I went to elementary school with him, but you’re just gonna have to trust my word when I tell you I wouldn’t be giving this any exposure if I didn’t genuinely like it. Even if I didn’t have the personal connection to Cloud Envy, I think he’s an undeniably talented artist. I loved his last album, but the stuff he’s been releasing and performing these days is miles ahead. I guess it makes sense. We were really young when that last album came out, so of course he’s improved. One thing I’ve come to learn is that the idea of rappers “falling off” was kind of a fluke. It happened more back in the day, but my theory is that it was mostly due to older artists feeling the need to follow trends to fit in; they didn’t know how to age gracefully in Hip Hop yet. A lot of it is also probably interference from shady record labels and industry people. Artists are more likely to stay indie these days I think, so that’s why I don’t believe artists have been falling off as much. Don’t get me wrong—they certainly could go through slumps. I think a lot of artists have the capability to bounce back if they were good in the first place though. LL Cool J is the most obvious example at the moment, but there are more you could say. Anyway, I’m going off on a tangent, so let me get back to the point…

Cloud Envy is currently making the best music he’s ever made. The last music video he put out was fire, and I like this track even more. The dude’s flow is undeniable, man. He just floats over the production like it’s nothing. I can’t listen to this without getting the coveted involuntary head nod. I don’t know who made this beat, but it kinda reminds me of the type of stuff that could’ve appeared on Joey Bada$$’s Summer Knights tape. It sounds kind of ethereal, melodic, and chill, but it has a lot of energy to it at the same time. I love the hook on this track, and he killed the verse.

Gotta cut 'em off, so be it
If I'm the villain, so be it
Numb to it all, what's a feeling?
Voodoo doll with 6 million
Pins in me, and still winning
I evolved and know healing
Never tomorrow, so let's get it
Several flaws, but no gimmicks
Life is Oz, and I'm Wizard
If you ain't God, then who fearing?
If it's on, send the business

This is actually probably the best song Cloud Envy has released so far. I mean, it’s arguable. It’s one of his best for sure. Definitely top 5. Maybe. I don’t know, he has a lot of good stuff. I’m excited to hear even more in the future though. I know he has a project with Khalil Nasim that he’s working on, so that’s really exciting. I look forward to hearing that one. This song is fire, and I can’t wait to see how he follows it up. Give it a listen and let me know what you think in the comments below. I think it’s excellent.