Curren$y and Harry Fraud's "Gold and Chrome"

My favorite song off of 'The OutRunners'

The past four months have felt like we’ve been driving through a tunnel. Not just any tunnel: I’m talking about the one that connects England and France by going under the English Channel. It feels like we’re crawling through that godforsaken structure at the slowest rate possible. Each day has felt identical to the last, with only small discrepancies like the food we eat or what we wear to distinguish between days. Going outside is borderline meaningless, with our towns, restaurants, and parks are littered with inconsiderate people who refuse to social distance and wear masks. Returns to normalcy with sports leagues attempt to placate our fears and help us feel better, but there’s a strange air around them like they shouldn’t be happening at all. 

This inescapable feeling of a virtual time loop is not only reserved for normal people. Artists are trapped in this pandemic as well, even if it sometimes feels as though they’re completely detached from reality. They can’t escape this either. Similar to us, they search for methods to cope with our new normal. Some decide to barrel through life as if nothing has changed, leading to catastrophic health results that quickly go from funny to sad. Other artists are only able to process the complicated set of emotions and thoughts through their music. 

Curren$y chooses the route of the latter on his latest collaboration tape The OutRunners, this time teaming up with Harry Fraud. The project is solid, full of sublime sample loops, and cooly delivered bars of the level of quality we’ve come to expect of the duo. We’re even gifted with entertaining features, including a sweet hook from Wiz Khalifa on “90’ IROC-Z” and a great verse from Conway on “Riviera Beach.” But the track “Gold and Chrome” is the true standout that delivers the perfect amount of emotion and tenderness to stick with you. On this track, Curren$y embarks upon a love letter to his son, centered on the chaos of the times, with a level of sentimentality that is truly special. 

The emotional power of the track begins with the sample. Harry Fraud’s crate-digging prowess has always been a staple of his production. This track is just the latest example. He elects to use the unheralded 2018 track “She Won’t Be Gone Long” by Kelly Finnigan and the Sentiments. The modern track mimics all of the elements of the golden era of soul, in a similar fashion to groups like Durand Jones & the Indications. Fraud decides to take just a small moment of Finnigan’s vocals and retain the soul of the original production; he interpolates a loop of Finnigan crooning “I know” and speeds up the rhythm ever so slightly to create the perfect background for Curren$y. 

The entirety of his performance is based on the love that he holds for his son. It’s comforting and refreshing, with the way he delivers the raps sounding like he’s reading a bedtime story. The manner in which he opens the chorus, as he spits, “When my son is full grown/May he roll on gold and chrome/In a Chevy sittin' low/Just like his pops did before the world close,” registers with a quiet hopefulness masked with reservation. Just like any good father that loves his son, he wants the best for his newborn. Curren$y hopes that his son will be able to enjoy the fruits of his labor but obviously is unsure if that will even be possible. 

He spends the rest of the track chronicling the changes to the world since the pandemic shifted everyone to this dark timeline. He’s rapping directly to his son, filling him in on how to navigate a COVID-based reality. He lays it all out for him, telling him “no more high fiving your homies with your palms open” and warning to “watch who you go home with.” Every innocuous interaction that we rarely paid attention to now demands conscious retraining. As a new dad, Curren$y has to think of every little instance that could endanger not only himself but his baby boy as well. 

Among the general dad advice, Curren$y weaves in the tragic and necessary advice that every Black parent has bestowed upon their child. Amid the continued protests for victims of police brutality across America, it’s impossible to forget about the ever-present danger to Black men and women in police interactions. He recognizes that. Slotted in between warnings of going out during the pandemic and musings about the NBA bubble and UFC fights, he raps, “some other shit fucking with us/These crooked cops will put your dead bodies in cuffs.” It’s heartbreaking that even as his kid is just a baby, he recognizes the need to address the dangers of police interactions for Black people. 

“Gold and Chrome” is as honest and endearing as a record to your kid can be. Against the delicate strings of Harry Fraud’s production, Curren$y expresses his love to his son in the clearest way possible. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. He, like the rest of us, understands how dark and dreary the current situation of the world is. All he can do is hope for the best. Just like us.