Casual

Heiro member Casual keeps the recent resurgence of West coast vets armed with fresh material going on his latest, He Still Think He Raw. There's a slight stumble out of the gate on opener "Rock My Shit," which has Casual trying to get comfortable over DJ Fresh's scattershot beat, jumping into too many different area codes simultaneously. Things quickly tighten up on head trips like "I'm On," featuring Mitchy Slick and Mistah FAB, which has the three MCs spitting over the kaleidoscopic-space-organ-funk that Fresh (who produces the entire album) cooks up. Other standouts include posse cut "12354," which has Casual reuniting with Opio and Pep Love over some digital kush. In a day and age when pop stars make a milli to lip-synch live to their techno-rap tracks (here's looking at you, Breezy!), it's always extremely refreshing and reassuring to listen to some real rap from artists who continue to age gracefully like a fine wine while constantly reinventing themselves. Thank you, Casual.