It’s been five years since the original Pilot Talk instalment and three years between studio releases for New Orleans rapper Curren$y. While his 2012 effort The Stoned Immaculate earned critical acclaim and charted higher than any previous release, and he’s certainly stayed busy with multiple mixtapes, tours, and a live album, Curren$y has seemingly been unable to harness the excitement and acclaim that his first two studio albums brought him.
So, it was unsurprising when Curren$y decided to dance with who brought him once more, with another instalment, Pilot Talk 3.
The biggest reunion, though, isn't between Curren$y and the Pilot Talk moniker, but rather Curren$y’s reunion with producer Ski Beatz. Because of the critical and fan acclaim for their collaborations on Pilot Talk’s 1 and 2, Ski Beatz was conspicuous by his absence on its follow-ups. Now that the pseudo-homecoming is in full effect with April’s release of Pilot Talk 3 and the positive reviews are in, it’s safe to say that the Pilot Talk Trilogy stands as a killer catalogue of music from the southern Spitta.
Since the dust has settled and the jets wheels have touched the ground, now seems as good of a time as any to dig into the three Pilot Talk releases and put them up against one another. Click along as we rank the Pilot Talk's. Which one has been your favorite? Let us know.
Pilot Talk 3 (2015)
Spitta has made a point to carve out his career in his own image, seamlessly transitioning from Young Money signee, to being big-wig Dame Dash’s pet project, into the self-sustaining smoker/rapper with a rabid fanbase. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that, with the comeback to Pilot Talk, there’s a more concise vibe to the third collaboration between Curren$y and Ski Beatz.
Perhaps Curren$y is just too comfortable at this point. While Ski-Beats shows up with some fresh beats that up Curren$y's lackadaisical persona a gear or two, the roads covered on Pilot Talk 3 are just too well-trodden at this point to truly feel gratified by the record.
Some of the albums greatest highlights from PT3 come not from Spitta himself, but those he gets chummy with. Cameos by Jadakiss, Wiz Khalifa, J Townshend, and Master P (even Riff Raff does alright on the none-Ski-Beatz-beat “Froze”) bump the albums fun-factor up a bit. It's a welcomed change of pace after Pilot Talk 2 abandoned the cameo vibe found on Pilot Talk 1.
The cameos and tighter production help keep this Pilot Talk enjoyable. “Pot Jar” in particular is impressive, with Jada and Spitta both dropping bombs ("Send a bottle to your table, it’s a celebration/Rolling Presidential, inauguration/Stones clearer than an HD station").
All of the Pilot Talk albums have their merit, however Pilot Talk 3 feels a bit stagnant when compared to the previous two albums. Maybe it's the production, but PT 3 feels like more of the same that Spitta's been doing lately (not necessarily a bad thing, but...) and not necessarily advancing the Pilot Talk sound we loved so much on the first two.
Pilot Talk 2 (2010)
The first Pilot Talk sequel has so many songs creep up on you, which makes sense considering it crept up right behind its predecessor, being released just four months after the original.
Despite the back-to-back releases, it’s still hard to top the original - especially if the original is as fresh as the first Pilot Talk.
It starts off strong, with hypnotic beats with samples that seem to whiz by. The celestial sound comes layered with Jazz and Latin Fusion horns that cement the stoner party sound. Curren$y’s affinity for catchy choruses is in full effect, with hooks that seem to hover over the shoulder and haunt the songs like weedy whispers ("Ocean’s in the back, Porsches in the front"). It’s this trend that keeps the album going, running on fumes of marijuana smoke and dreamy psychedelia both lyrically by Spitta and via Ski Beatz’s production.
Perhaps the worst bit of turbulence that Pilot Talk encounters is its latter half, wherein the horns are replaced for strings and keys. PT1, if not just because it was Spitta’s studio debut felt like a constant ascension to the skies, whereas PT2 definitely delights - maybe too much - in the descension of that flight. The party sound, much like the party-goer, burns out, so that by the end of the album-- you’re melting into the couch like it’s 11:59 PM on 4/20 more than you are bobbing your head, like you were at the beginning.
Pilot Talk (2010)
Curren$y’s debut studio recording is the perfect introduction to the unique style of the emcee and it is also his quintessential album. It’s true stoner rap, in that all of the triumphant self-touting lyrics come THC tinged, puffed through the smoke that surely filled the studio. His lackadaisical approach allows him to throw caution in the wind and boast about finer things both common and uncommon for the genre. On one track it’s all money talk about money and girls, in another he delves into the meaty subjects of updated rosters and Nintendo DS'. This lack of discrimination of what goes down in his book as awesome is what sets Curren$y apart, and at the same time, makes him so relatable-- or at least it did at the time. Curren$y's influence on stoner-rap everywhere is undeniable, especially following PT.
Everything is enhanced by Ski Beatz on Pilot Talk. If infamous producer Phil Spektor would help in legitimizing Mo-Town by providing up-coming artists a wall of sound in the '60s, then on 2010’s Pilot Talk 1 Ski Beatz does the same for Curren$y’s sort of lazy bedroom-hop, providing the NOLA rapper a waterfall of sound. Samples of enrapturing guitar licks seem to make lazy circles in the sky like Curren$y’s native pelican might.
It would be remiss to not mention the killer cast of cameos on Curren$y’s rookie effort, helping him in earning instant cred. Big K.R.I.T., Snoop Dog, a Mos Def beat, and Jay Electronica assist the then-28-year-old Spitta Andretti in making the first Pilot Talk a more complete experience than the albums that begat it. It's first single "Audio Dope 2" is still considered one of the best, if not the best, tracks in the Curren$y catalog. Maybe we're just enamored by the first Pilot Talk because it was so exciting and new at the time, but either way, the replay value on this one has definitely not decreased over time.
