Curren$y w/ Shane Mane, The Martian and Tefman

Curren$y has an odd pedigree for a rapper currently enjoying acclaim in indie-rap circles. The New Orleans native did time on Master P’s No Limit Records when that label was well past its heyday, and then joined Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment, leaving in 2007, shortly before that franchise became one of rap’s most formidable. After his 2009 breakthrough mixtape This Ain’t No Mixtape, he landed on Damon Dash’s relaunched Roc-A-Fella Records, where he teamed with one of hip-hop’s most respected producers, Ski Beatz, who crafted Camp Lo’s masterful 1997 debut, Uptown Saturday Night. Ski creates a buoyant, occasionally dizzying backdrop for Curren$y’s rhymes about weed and snack food on the rapper’s assured major-label debut, Pilot Talk.