I had always heard the name Larry June in the late 2010’s but I just knew him for being on some cool shit. His music found me over time and it stays aging like fine wine. Larry June raps about entrepreneurship, smoothies, jogging, and porches in spanish which is what I’m here for on the daily… Larry’s even playing tennis with tekkies out in Mission Bay tho??? There are levels to this so grab that coffee and sip slow while we do some numbers this morning.
In June of 2021, “Tangible Assets” dropped and it was like Larry was speaking to me. Here I was depressed and in the trenches once again but I found some light at the end of a tunnel full of sleepless nights, self-doubt, and fears that I would never come up out of the darkness. And it wasn’t just Larry June’s track that cured me. I wish it was that easy but to anybody who is bipolar (1 or 2 tho?), suffering from PTSD, anxiety, depressions, or anything else stopping you from being you. Larry June’s track gave me hope… Larry’s verses and approach to the mic gave me aspirations. Before we get to that track further, let’s go grab some smoothies…
I first caught wind of Larry during the pandemic with his track with Curren$y and Dom Kennedy, “Sunday Morning Drive” which was impeccable. I was quickly realizing why Larry’s music resonated so much with me. He gave me a soundtrack for my early morning drives along the coast in San Diego thinking of different ways to hit a lick in life. Larry and Curren$y were who I wanted to be. Their chemistry over this Harry Fraud beat is just too damn wavy… How do you bump this and not smile with a little pimp walk down the sidewalk? This is straight up theme music….
Larry gave me the feels of my childhood in San Diego bumpin’ 90’s bay area gangsta rap in elementary and junior high school. While Snoop, Dre, Cube, and Eazy were smashing out of Los Angeles, I was more of a Vallejo and Hunters Point kind of kid. I loved 90’s bay area rappers like Mac Dre, E-40, Spice 1, Digital Underground, JT the Bigga Figga and crews like RBL Posse, The Click, 415, TRU, and many others that I’ll have to get to later. You see, Larry June’s pops was a part of the RBL Posse crew and was childhood friends with Black C from the squad. While Larry was born in ‘91, he was raised with 90’s bay area rap in his blood. Hearing Larry’s music in 2020 took me back to 3X Krazy, Cellski, Yound Dre-D, Chunk, and other bay area hip hop artists that stayed on repeat in my walkman.
While researching for this article, I found this Larry June track rappin over RBL’s “Blue Bird” and he couldn’t sound more at home. Larry was Mac Dre and RBL Posse mixed up in one but he did something that they never did… He brought the bay to the world and let young hustlers know that the 90’s bay area would never die as long as Larry was switching lane to lane in the hardest ships you’ve ever seen…
I never knew that Larry also lived in Atlanta while growing up and now it all makes sense… Bay Area pimpin meets ATL trappin and you got one of the best entrepreneurs in the independent rap game. As you read this article, I realize that you probably don’t bump Larry like I do so attacking his catalog could be a tall task. These videos I drop on this site give you cheat codes to the pimpin but long plays like this allow you to press play and have this cool shit in the background while you do some numbers in the morning.
I’m just now realizing that I don’t have a Larry June playlist in my catalog of mixes on Spotify so I gotta change that. I’ll drop that at the bottom but before I do, let’s hit a few more music videos to set you up for a nice day. Larry’s album with ALC in 2023 was the album of the year in my opinion. It had me buying up all of the “Turkish Cotton” I could get my hands on. Larry just moves the needle like that… He’s out here mackin on bitches in his Invisalign and spending $500 on salt shakers… Aye aye ayeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Songs like this make me want to ghost ride a whip at 3 mph just throwing deuces at everybody in my peripheral just so they can see me shining….
Me and my homies hitting Mexico City last year to watch the Padres played the Giants just hit harder when I knew that Larry and ALC were completing their album, The Great Escape down there just a few months earlier.
Larry didn’t just pop off out of nowhere like Baby Keem… Larry put down work up and down the Cali coast to eventually clear the lane for him to come through on some cool shit. Larry has always been one of the most consistent rappers in the game.
Now back to “Tangible Assets” which inspired me to write this article in the first place. Larry does something on this track that most will never be able to do. Larry over a fly Jake One beat talking about him being stressed with a baby on the way and it just hit for me. Dude was out here going for a morning job and then coming back to do some numbers is what I’m trying to do everyday of my life… Rarely do you see me at the club I’m a busy man… aye aye ayeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
And here’s the Spotify playlist for yall…