With more and more artists milking their own streaming numbers by releasing absurdly long albums, there’s something to be said for concision. 2 Chainz knows about getting to the point: He’s changed the dynamics of countless songs with little more than a quick one-liner, or a well-placed ad-lib, or a four-word bar. And of late, the Atlanta rapper has perfected the art of the EP. Freebase from 2014 and Felt Like Cappin and Hibachi for Lunch from 2016 featured some of his best songs before they found homes on albums. They function like reps ahead of the main event and a way to flood the streets without oversaturating them.
On his latest and most excellently titled EP, The Play Don’t Care Who Makes It, 2 Chainz basks in the fruits of the plays he’s made. It lands well in the aftermath of last year’s phenomenal Pretty Girls Like Trap Music to display an artist who has fully stepped up and into his moment (again) without becoming too self-serious. There’s a sense of reflective appreciation throughout The Play, but his hallmark frivolity keeps the EP from becoming suffocating.
Rap flutes continue their contemporary reign on the trappy “Ok Bitch,” where his flow rides perfectly over an ominous piano loop, the syllables adding their own percussive element. “Proud,” which features the EP’s only guest verses, courtesy of YG and Offset, arrives to give all the flexing a higher purpose than simple egoism. The trio celebrates mothers in a way that only they can, and the result is both tender and cautionary at the same time; on some level, who doesn’t know that feeling of “I ain’t trying to let my mama down,” even if it is by any means necessary. “Land of the Freaks” surges with energy spilling out through lyrical dexterity and infinite swag. Only 2 Chainz can rhyme, “Yeah, I’m a misfit, dipshit, fish sticks, six whips/Times two, I’m cold, swine flu, must I remind you?” and make it work.
The EP’s anchor, “Lamborghini Truck (Atlanta Shit),” reveals a more sentimental side of the rapper whose lightheartedness has been a calling card for the better part of a decade. Over the pillowy vocals of Sitara Kanhai, he crafts an ode to his Georgia hometown. It’s genuinely touching without over-exaggerating the emotion or the subject matter. As the EP’s longest song, it offers a brief history lesson of the city’s legendary and oft-understated rappers—a monument erected in honor of Atlanta, the names of his friends etched in the stones. Everyone from late rappers Shawty Lo and Bankroll Fresh to unsung heroes like Baby D and legends like the Dungeon Family get their love.
In some ways, 2 Chainz is the ultimate embodiment of Atlanta rap. At age 40, he’s old enough to have witnessed the forging of its building blocks but maintains the youthful spirit of an ever-changing genre. His success is the product of a city and—and of an artist—that fundamentally understands the EP’s leading statement: “The play don’t care who makes it.” It’s a quote about the mechanics of football by Texas A&M football coach Jimbo Fisher, but when applied to the music of 2 Chainz, it’s like he’s holding aloft the key to the city because that’s just how it’s done.
