Ray Ray From Summerhill is YFN Lucci's second project named in tribute to a dead friend (following last year's Long Live Nut), and there's no reason to think that it will be his last. It's an album less about grieving than living with and beyond grief; the integration of a gaping void into one's ongoing existence. Emotionally, lines like can't believe my cousin died before the deal came are irreducible into individual vectors of good/bad/sad; for Lucci, loss is less a discrete occurrence than a permanent caveat to his own ever-growing success.

With that said, Ray Ray is an utter joy to listen through, and maybe my favorite album of the year thus far. Despite the fact that Pitchfork and The Fader have both failed to mention the album at all, Lucci is very much a part of the trap mainstream, selling out shows all over the place and occupying a niche somewhere between Migos and Meek Mill. It's a scene that's often criticized as sonically staid, but in production and performance alike Lucci distinguishes himself - the beats throughout are adorned with extremely organic-sounding instrumentation (sax on the very first track though a bluesy guitar figure on the last). On Dream, the album's highlight by far, he switches his flow up constantly, something that would be a much bigger deal if rappers were still praised on those terms.

In his guest verse on Boss Life, Offset says I cannot vibe with queers for some reason; that this album has been reported on first because of what Cardi B had to say about that, second because of how Offset defended himself, and not at all otherwise is extremely telling about the nature of the general public's interest in rap.

Highlights: Dream, The Things We Can Do - Interlude, At My Best