Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y’s collaborative project Live in Concert (not an actual live album) was supposed to come out last summer as a free mixtape but it wound up being delayed. Following a lawsuit against Mac Miller for an unapproved Lord Finesse sample, rappers became more conscious of what they were sampling on mixtapes. Fearing copycat lawsuits, Khalifa and Curren$y held onto the sample-heavy Live in Concert, waiting for the legal dust to settle, and now they've released it as an EP, one that costs money.
These rappers have some history. Back in 2009, Khalifa and Curren$y released a collaborative mixtape, How Fly, just at the point where both were carving out their respective niches. Khalifa found mainstream success with his single "Black and Yellow" and Curren$y found critical and underground appreciation by releasing a constant stream of quality music. Both make long records that grow more enticing with repeated listens, after one has tuned in to their respective off-color jokes and personal ticks. Though Khalifa has never been able to match Curren$y’s sheer rapping skill, his nasally voice has a more welcoming tone next to Curren$y's weary snarl.
Imagery is where Curren$y excels (“Motion sensors all over my house/ For investigative-ass hoes/ That’s waiting on me to pass out/ So they can tip-toe all over my home”, from "Landing"), and Khalifa will never be able to equal him there. Instead, his verses feel weightless, as he raps about much money he’s made and many places he has been. Where Curren$y’s attention to detail takes you to those places, Khalifa’s never achieves that kind of tangibility.
The duo share a penchant for jazzy and relaxed funk production (see: Curren$y’s Pilot Talk series) and production is the EP's strength. The excellent flute work from Bobbi Humphrey’s Fancy Dancer is heard all over this EP-- Curren$y and Khalifa can write strong hooks on their own but here they're content to let Humphrey take over. Take “Revenge and Cake”, which lifts its lovely refrain of “Sweeter than sugar/ Sweeter than love” from Fancy Dancer. The samples aren't really mixed or chopped, and since with every track gets an extended intro or outro, it almost feels like the two rappers were in the studio with Humphrey.
Still, Live in Concert is not a mixtape and it isn't free. In a post-Datpiff world, it's reasonable to wonder if anyone will pay for it. But even free mixtapes require studio space, someone to do mixing, cover art and especially here properly cleared samples, all of which cost money. So while Live in Concert might not justify the money a listener might spend, you can understand why they would try to recoup.
