Album review: Denzel Curry – King Of The Mischievous South Vol. 2

Mesmerising as Denzel Curry’s mercurial, occasionally metallic brand of well-oiled southern hip-hop keeps proving itself to be, it’s even easier to get lost in his gleefully-interlaced, ever-expanding lore.

2022’s fifth album Melt My Eyez See Your Future found the Miami Gardens firebrand reinventing himself to fold untold shades of subtlety and unexpected leftfield influence (HR Giger, Akira Kurosawa, Kurt Cobain) into a set of songs that repudiated the cliches of the genre while pressing boldly at its boundaries. King Of The Mischievous South Vol. 2. loops back an older narrative thread. With Denzel stepping into the shoes of thuggishly larger-than-life alter-ego Big Ultra to pick up where 2012’s Vol. 1 left off, the opening salvo of ULTRA SHXT and SET IT start exactly as KOTMS2 means to go on: like a gold-plated, gunpowder-flecked exercise in unchecked machismo.

It’s telling that this is released as a mixtape rather than a full-blooded DC album. The playfulness and presence of listed collabs on every track – even the interludes – gives it a defiantly grindhouse flow of adrenaline. But there’s also the opportunity for uncensored, tongue-in-cheek self-reflection. ‘I am not an emo rapper and I ain't no fuckin' herd n****,’ Denzel spits alongside That Mexican OT on the brilliant BLACK FLAG FREESTYLE. ‘I was whoopin' ass since the first, second, and third, n****.’

Ultimately, that irreverence and wilful expendability means quality control goes out the window. Denzel’s titular mischievousness and biting charisma can do a lot of heavy lifting, but with everyone from TiaCorine and A$AP Ferg (HOT ONE) to Ty Dolla $ign and Juicy J (COLE PIMP) piling in, it’s a turbulent flow. Fortunately, flashes of genius keep shining through. The nightmarish beat of HIT THE FLOOR, for instance, and PlayThatBoiZay/A$AP Rocky’s cameos on a chaotic, climactic HOODLUMZ are worth holding out for by themselves.

Smarter, sexier, more soulful sounds will surely follow shortly in Denzel’s mainline discography. But as a subversive stopgap, KOTMS2 sure hits the spot.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: JPEGMAFIA, Joey Bada$$, Rick Ross

King Of The Mischievous South Vol. 2 is out on now via PH Recordings/Loma Vista