Situated on the corner of Chicago’s Western and Addison avenues is Lane Tech College Prep High School, the largest high school in the city’s public school system and the alma mater of Savemoney member, Towkio. Or, as he is also known, Preston Oshita, on-and-off again star quarterback for the Lane Tech Indians—a factoid that the Savemoney crew rapper discretely references on Community Service 2’s best track, “Intro (My Calling)”: “I break the huddle, yeah/I run the spread.”
“Intro (My Calling)” is one of a few, vivid standout tracks on an otherwise colorless EP. Over a frenetic footwork beat, Towkio takes the listener on a hyperspeed tour of his city. It’s a narrative rich with details that are brought to life by Towkio’s incomparably earnest voice. He takes the tone of someone trying not to lose his temper while pleading his case. “Before that Paypal, I had them custies, I fronted out back/Call that the steakhouse, call my cousin, bet he vouch that,” he implores. Too soon, the earnestness cools and is supplanted by an altogether different Towkio than the heady 20-something that laid down starry-eyed rhymes on 2015’s *.WAV Theory**. *In its place is a pushier rapper who insists he “ain’t playin’ fair” and is prodded along by an aggressive beat from Smoko Ono replete with over-stylized bass drops that harken back to the days when EDM invaded trap.
Variations on that same beat continue throughout “G W M,” “Therapeutic,” and “Feel Me Doe” to varying degrees of success. Same goes for the lyrics. “Feel Me Doe” stands out above the rest thanks to Towkio’s staccato delivery that softens and slows across the final verse as the beat recedes beneath it. And “G W M,” despite its laundry list of celebrity callouts, entertains every so often–like when Towkio connects lean to Bill Withers, or references astral projection. More of that weirdness could’ve given this album the singular point of view it deserves.
The soulful, hush-hush side of Towkio that’s in full swing on Chance the Rapper’s “Juke Jam," only appears as an echo on “Tear Drop.” And Oshito, though meaningful in moments, too often mistakes platitudes for poetry: “The truth is your face, no filter.” Broad strokes don’t make for lasting impressions. What does is an anecdote grounded in a place and time. “We used to roll at the rink/I used to talk way too much/You used to know everything,” to quote the aforementioned “Juke Jam.”
*Community Service 2 *ends on a high note with the delirious banger, “Work 4 Me.” On the track, copious amounts of cacophony give way to catchiness. Producer Peter Cottontale's beat crashes sirens into cash registers and lets the resulting clang ring out like a bell at the beginning of a boxing match. It arrests the listener just in time for Towkio to punch his way through the intro, alternating the emphasis between three words—work for me, work for me, work for me. It’s jolting, as if the wires within the song crossed and put the vocals on the fritz.
The record could’ve fared better had Towkio delivered the same kind of energy and specificity that he brought to the EP’s bookends. Instead it failed to complete its thought. Only when Towkio avoided abstractions and zoomed into what was happening on the corner—at Addison and Western, inside the huddle—did the music reward fully.
