You might know Alejandro Coranza (aka OhGeesy) as a key lieutenant of Shoreline Mafia, the apparently disbanded L.A. group that evolved out of the city’s graffiti scene. Geesy’s raspy flow, master-crafted hooks, and ability to inject melody into every corner of the music was vital in bringing bounce to the collective’s infectious sound. There are no failed experiments on Geezyworld, his debut album. He’s launching his solo career with a concentrated dose of what he does best: rap music for the height of the party. Without his former bandmates diluting him, we’re learning that you can’t have too much of this particular good thing. On the single “Get Fly,” he declares, “I ain’t Scottie Pippen.” The message is obvious: He’s playing second fiddle to nobody.
Geesy is well placed to thrive as a lone star. Geezyworld is a quintessential L.A. rap record—its catchy bars and gummy beats align with the heroes of DJ Mustard-led ratchet music, such as Kamaiyah, RJ, and Cam & China. The crisp, hi-fidelity sound honors the city’s long-standing audiophile-in-chief, Dr. Dre. Geesy is in the tradition of the smooth, rhythmic G-funk era rappers, with Warren G in particular coming to mind. Take “Keeper,” which features a hook and verse courtesy of A Boogie Wit da Hoodie. The programmed bass and prominent snares are as crisp as a freshly printed 100 dollar bill. Geesy’s melodic cadences—his voice hushed, raspy, and always gratifying—blends with the smooth beat into a concoction that’s pure silk on the ear. A lot of the choruses on Geezyworld feel like repurposed bars, which is fine when every rhyme you spit feels like a hook.
Lyrically, Geesy keeps to sticky sex raps and chest-beating braggadocio. His manifesto is pretty much established on “Intro”: Geesy describes lurid encounters, brags about his gun collection and capacity for weed smoking, and signs off with the punctuation, “The world is mine for the taking.” Then comes “Who Else,” an ode to his sexual propensity. It’s reasonable to say that Geesy’s writing could sometimes be sharper. On “Coochie,” the weakest song in the deck, he rhymes “bitch” with “bitch” a lot. But Geesy comes across as a rapper who would rather put words together on instinct than workshop his bars from notebooks. For the most part, that sense of informality serves him well.
The guest spots are well chosen. Evoking the classic fairy tale over Ron-Ron The Producer’s pinging electronic riff, “Big Bad Wolf” predictably sees Geesy share great chemistry with YG, another star who can do sticky Cali rap like it’s nothing. UK rapper Central Cee’s style synthesizes with Geesy beautifully on “Startn Up,” adding a whole different ripple to the record. Recent controversy surrounding DaBaby may suppress the single “Get Fly,” which is a shame for Geesy as the Spanish guitar riffs and booming drums would make an elegant party track for balmy summer nights.
At 11 cuts, Geezyworld is lean, and as an album-making exercise, you could criticize its lack of variety. Yet this narrowing of the lens makes it a better album than Shoreline Mafia’s debut album Mafia Bidness, and solidifies OhGeesy as potentially one of L.A. rap’s next generation stars. His ambition here was to make one kind of song, and he did it extremely well.
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