OTF NuNu - "Nuski Still Got Da Strap"

[StevePulaski]

Nuski Still Got Da Strap (2014)
By: OTF NuNu

Rating: ★★★½
"Bitch, this Chiraq, not the windy city, where if we catch you walkin', it get ugly." - OTF NuNu, "Chiraq (Remix)"

OTF NuNu is one of the many rappers who was shot and killed before any recognition could really find him, joining the likes of Atlanta rapper Dolla and South Carolina MC Speaker Knockerz. Killed at twenty-two with barely enough music to sustain a mixtape (the latter half of NuNu's first and only tape being predominately freestyles and remixes), OTF NuNu's mixtape Nuski Still Got Da Strap is surprising in how uniformly strong it is. The mixing is accomplished, the songs aren't bogged down by incessant DJ drops, NuNu's flows vary nicely and showcase a hardened personality, and the production is also commendable. This is one of the most complete trap tapes I have yet to hear.

We open with arguably NuNu's biggest hit, "At the Top," where he, alongside cousin and frequent collaborator Lil Durk, spits flows that are equal parts melodic and cut-throat. "OTF, that's who we are," NuNu claims early in the song, following up with "FTO is 'f***k the opps,' I can't relate if you an opp." These repeated cold sentiments and prideful remarks about his gang/clique "OTF" (standing for 'Only the Family') are carried through Nuski Still Got Da Strap in a way that makes every song sound signature rather than derivative. Furthermore, Durk's metallic autotune even comes into play during "At the Top," bringing a more soulful edge to an icy song before taking on a personality more akin to his cousin's on the song "OC" later on in the mixtape.

NuNu gives love to all those he tragically lost to the streets in his song "Lotta N*****," a heartbreaking and revealing tune for anyone who doesn't grow up on the frontlines of all the violence in Chicago. NuNu doesn't harp on emotion too long, bringing in songs like "Feelin' Good," accentuating a rare positive mood and "DHK," where NuNu shouts out his "drillas, hittas, and killas" all in one song. The remixes NuNu provides work as endurance exercises for his own rapping abilities. "Chiraq" is a terrific example of how NuNu can rap fast, yet still be lyrically potent, and "Used 2" catches him in a Montana of 300-esque mode where each line seems to be builds of one another and adds more tension to the song as a whole.

Nuski Still Got Da Strap has a wide variety of trap songs that work for a barrage of different reasons, all while showcasing yet another talent stripped away from us too soon. One has to question whether or not NuNu would've taken on a personality like Durk, had he ever achieved a bit more surface success, going the route of more melodic, R&B tunes. Perhaps, like most of his contemporaries, he would've stayed away from radio and kept making the brutal drill music we come to see on this mixtape; the potential price for that, however, as we seen, is quite large unfortunately.

Recommended tracks (in order): "At the Top," "Chiraq (Remix)," "Lotta N*****," "DHK," "Used 2 (Remix)," and "Versace (Remix)."