Denzel Curry is one of the last remaining torchbearers of bona fide underground hip-hop, and he’s keeping the scene relevant through sheer will. We know Curry for his obsession with Memphis’ dark and shadowy corner of the music industry, brought forth by horrorcore pioneers Three 6 Mafia. Curry has gone through every individual iteration of being influenced by the collective, so it’s only natural that his next step forward is to form his own supergroup: The Scythe.
Helmed by Curry, The Scythe also includes the explosive women rappers Bktherula and TiaCorine, FERG, formerly of A$AP Mob, and Key Nyata, who first created alongside Denzel Curry in the SpaceGhostPurrp-led Raider Klan. The group’s debut project, Strictly 4 The Scythe, is Denzel and co.’s enthusiastically-written love note to the South in all of its complicated, but transformative, glory.
From Track One, minute one, it’s immediately apparent that Denzel and the squad are pulling zero punches when it comes to putting on for Southerners. This is important, because the album is only eight tracks and 30 minutes long. The Scythe wastes no time getting busy.
After we’re introduced to the chorus of “The Scythe,” which doubles as a crude mission statement of the group — “N****s tryna fuck with The Scythe, you get sliced, hoe” — the first voice we hear is TiaCorine. Over insanely-hard production that would fit neatly on a ’90s Memphis jookin’ compilation video, the South Carolina MC twists her voice to cover more ground in three bars than other artists manage in a whole song: “The swag’s off the chart, so that’s why they don’t invite me/ Spikе Lee, come make a movie, booty, Nick at Nitе me/ It’s beef? Come and shoot it, I don’t fuck with all that typing.”
Curry uses his verse on the song to home in on his goal with The Scythe: “We take from the rich and we give to ourselves/ What’s the point of me robbin’ hood?” Denzel Curry has arrived at the point where he’s providing songs for major movie soundtracks, a far stretch from his unflinching breakthrough, 2013 single “Threatz.” Instead of lingering in the world of endless budgets and silver-screen recognition, however authentically, Curry is bringing his enthusiasm and perhaps even a bag back to pursue his passion projects.
As such, this album serves as somewhat of a rebirth for Curry, whose 2013 mixtape was titled Strictly 4 My R.V.I.D.X.R.Z., a direct hat-tip to the Raider Klan that raised him. This time around, he’s at the head of the table, but he’s willing to share the space with others. “Combining Denzel’s unique style with classically gritty Southern sounds and the creative force of each artist, the project centers hip-hop’s core across eras, paying homage to the South’s great musical legacy while ushering in a rising new guard,” the artists shared in a press release.
“Phony” with FERG and Key Nyata is a particular achievement for the album. A$AP Mob and Raider Klan, their respective former cliques, were staunch opponents in the 2010s, to the point where fights would regularly break out whenever the factions were near each other. Here, they take up space next to Three 6 Mafia’s own Juicy J, digging into their distinctive styles that were cultivated in warring crews. Time heals all wounds, and perhaps cures all beef, too.
Production collective Working on Dying provides beats for the majority of the project overall, but the front half of the project functions as a dedicated homage to old-school Memphis rap specifically. “Lit Effect” churns like a cauldron of tar that’s been bubbling since Triple 6’s origins, but even so, Bktherula’s rhythmic chorus veers more toward the SoundCloud rap scene. By threading together multiple eras in single songs, Curry and his collaborators are ensuring that they’re converging the sounds, and working toward a new opportunity to leave an impact like their predecessors.
