Levon James

Album review

With the success of international drill scenes from London to Brooklyn to Sydney, it's about time that Chicago came back for a piece of the pie. Lying relatively dormant since its early-2010s inception, the Chicago drill scene needed fresh voices with a wide-ranging appeal -- and that's exactly what they found in King Von. Hailing from the same Parkway Gardens as legends like Chief Keef, Von exploded into the international spotlight with "Crazy Story" -- and on his mixtape Levon James, the fierce newcomer shows no signs of stopping. A mixed bag with a banger-driven focus, Levon James kicks off Von's year with some of his most pulse-pounding tracks to date. Any album that starts with the line "I'm a hardworkin' n**** like a bricklayer, you a hardworkin' sitter like a bench player" is going to be hard from the jump, and Von pulls no punches. "2 A.M." hammers out drill narratives over a stuttering beat, "Same as Us" shrugs off contemporaries with cold indifference, and "Down Me" ups the pace alongside scene veteran Lil Durk. The tape's softer ventures come with a little less consistency. Despite the brilliance of closer "See Me Make It," Von's features often risk tanking his more dynamic approach, with YNW Melly's drawl bringing "Rollin" to a sluggish slump, and Booka600 adding a painfully clunky outro to the otherwise solid "Baguette's." The pinnacle of the pile is undoubtedly late highlight "Don't Want to Be," a five-minute monolith that immediately stands out amid the tape's flood of two-minute bangers. Combining the storytelling flair shown on the "Crazy Story" series with some deep-rooted introspection, the track offers a pain-stained glimpse into the rapper's formative years: "this where it started, three floors, eight floors, them apartments/Section 8: baby mommas and toddlers, killers, rapers and robbers." In the contexts of loss and grief, Von's animated vocals take on a new urgency, brought home by the choral cries of "You don't wanna be me." It's not just the best song of Von's career, but one of 2020's, too. While slightly over-padded, Von's second tape proves exactly why the rapper dominated the underground at the time of release: packed with storytelling finesse, bold vocals, and a dynamic range, Levon James is a testament to the young MC's potential
© David Crone /TiVo