By Odeisel

The Bay Area is leaving hyphy in the rear view mirror and its burgeoning crop of talent is exhibiting a wide array of talent and depth. IAMSU! is leading the charge with critically acclaimed mixtapes that feature strong songwriting, a nice dose of the ignorance of youth and a sullen depth that belies his age. His latest track, the airy, melancholy Losin’ featuring singer CJ.

I am losing myself to find you, yeah I’m dying it’s true. It’s never been about anything more or anything less, it’s about you

CJ lays the groundwork for the song in Drake mode, smoothly delivering lines wrought with emotion and purpose. The production, with that drug-hazed drama is 40-esque He doesn’t sound like Drake vocally and his voice isn’t as nasal but he does have Drake-ish flow on this one. IAMSU! stays in his lane on the second verse and delivers with that Bay area swagger. Where CJ rapped relationships, IAMSU! raps about his rise and the hood he put on his back on the way up.

Losin’ is dope. With two verses in divergent directions, CJ and IAMSU! both manage to get their points across and create further confusion (in a good way) in trying to define the current Bay Area Hip-Hop milieu. IAMSU! is winning.