Snow Tha Product-GN​BM Mixtape Review

by Dan-O

The task of being a female MC can seem insurmountable. If you are not sexy enough, no one cares about you. If you are too sexy, you are setting a bad example for the children and for society. The female MC not only has to be ill enough not to be thought of as one but the perfect amount of each expectation criteria for every audience member. As tricky as this is its not impossible. Snow tha Product proves this on her GNBM mixtape.

ID Labs producing 4 out of 10 tracks is a great place to start. The production team that brought Wiz Khalifa to fame can always be counted on to make your head knock. Rarely will ID Labs bore you and that’s the case with the production on this mixtape. Money Moss does the first and third track Good Nights and Damn It: the latter an authoritative southern stomp, the former a bass heavy electronic Nicki Minaj style beat. 

GNBM is a fist pump, trunk rattler and Snow has the flow to back it up. She is from Cali but resides in Texas which gives her an interesting linguistic dexterity. On songs like Damn It that have that southern tilt she can go there and not seem in costume. She blasts bummy dudes throughout “He used to act like he was pimpin’ brag bout b#$%’s he been with, used to talk that mess bout he winning, used to drive around in that Lincoln. Now he got some stupid girl pregnant, got himself 2 dependents, at his moms house with no credit. He’s all bad and got 2 infants meanwhile I been getting my cheese up…(Damn It)” After all the tracks about bummy ladies, it was great to have the script flipped.

Using a slower Cali vibe on F*$ the Rent and I’m Doing Fine she fits into a much more relaxed beat while still loading her verses “They say tomorrow ain’t promised and today is today’s gift. I live for presence I learned my lesson I’m done with stressing over payments(F#$ the Rent).”

Upon first listening I was so excited by the fiery bravado and fearless pace of Good Nights and Damn It, the competent personalization of F#$ the Rent that I found myself rooting against a misstep bad enough to disjoint the powerful flow of the tape. It nearly came after the stupendous digit clap and lyrical blackout of Hola, which might be the best pure hit on the tape. The next song is F#$ Your Phone. You guessed it; it’s about hating people that are distracted constantly by their phone and twitter. It’s a lame concept that in the wrong hands could easily have turned into an Andy Rooney editorial on modernity. By ending the song with an admission that she is having so much fun that she plans to twit pic the party she’s at, she gives the wink and admits she’s as guilty as anyone else she just complained about. This keeps it thematically on point, Snow Tha Product is not trying to teach you about life…just be great, share her vision and have fun doing it.

You shouldn’t listen to GNBM if you are tired. At its best it does the hand clap, hyphy/ratchet excitement of current west coast and the thick authoritative trap sound. Its not just refreshing to hear a female MC that spits with determination, its doing it while making fully formed songs. Snow Tha Product proves that she has bars and makes a coherent project while doing it, that’s not easy for a lot of artists.

Beyond the pure skill in her ferocious declarations you can find a real person beyond the persona. References to being a little chick for San Jose and dialogues with her mother about paying her back for money lent help individuate and balance the mixtape. Add her to your list next to Rah Digga, Jean Grae, and Invincible and root for her. Not to be the best female MC but to be a relevant counterpoint to hip hop gender misconceptions.

stream or download GNBM below:

http://www.djbooth.net/index/albums/review/snow-tha-product-good-nights-bad-mornings