New York rap star Bobby Shmurda is back with the slow-burning, dramatic “Cartier Lens.” Full of his trademark barbs and piercing pain rap, the song finds Shmurda more focused than he’s ever sounded, riding the ominous beat with ease. the release of “Cartier Lens” coincides with the rapper’s hotly anticipated set at Rolling Loud New York, where he’ll play his most beloved songs to the city that crowned him king.
On “Cartier Lens,” rolling piano melodies guide Shmurda’s breathless delivery as he recounts harrowing memories of cops and judges, and catalogs his millions. “I was in there all alone, all by myself, n***a,” he raps somberly. “Ain’t no one to call my mom, was broke, ain’t got no bail, n***a.” Compared to earlier records where his bars were all brawn, coming down on listeners like boulders, here he’s icy and menacing, ensnaring the beat in intricate wordplay and a tight-knit rhyme scheme. Now that he’s back at the top of the game, Shmurda is delivering on the promise he made to New York, showing that he can hang, bar-for-bar, with rap royalty.
“Cartier Lens” and Shmurda’s Rolling Loud set follow his much-awaited release from prison in February after six years. He re-entered the rap world showered in adoration, with profiles from GQ and Complex, but he stayed low, reacclimating to the world and honing his craft. The first post-prison single “No Time for Sleep (Freestyle)” unveiled a new and upgraded Bobby Shmurda, a rapper capable of sleek flows and vivid lyricism, a fulfillment of the electricity and potential contained in early hits like 2014’s “Hot N***a,” and the tracks found on his Gold-certified EP, Shmurda She Wrote. These newer tracks, like “Cartier Lens,” confirm he’s as hungry as he was back then, ready for the run at world domination that he always deserved.
© 2021, Seth "Digital Crates" Barmash. All rights reserved.
