Ten Takeaways From Popcaan’s New Album ‘FIXTAPE’
It’s been months of waiting to hear what the Unruly Boss Popcaan has had up his sleeves for his upcoming album. The moment finally arrived on August 7, with an eclectic mixtape dubbed the FIXTAPE with 19 tracks.
The full collection, the ‘YIY CHANGE FIXTAPE,’ has a whopping 32 tracks to hold us through for a good hour and a half of listening, with possibly another 30 minutes to pull up and rewind some of these lyrically crafty tunes.
Now according to Poppy, this is not a mixtape but is rather a ‘fixtape,’ which makes it safe to say it’s nothing like an album either. After listening to the entire and extended version of the FIXTAPE with all 32 singles, it’s evident as to why.
There are no rules to this collection, while some tracks run a little over 3 minutes (you know the customary). Others are a mere 50 seconds long. Then there are sporadic dubplate-style shout-outs throughout from elites like Vybz Kartel, Koffee, Tory Lanez (👎), Protoje, and that’s just a few.
There’s even a little recording, somewhat like a skit with his mother, Miss Rhona, with many more surprises.
Thanks to the producer, Creep Chromatic’s mixing and fixing, Popcaan’s new FIXTAPE is truly a masterful composition with some pretty fresh beats, loads of dubplates, spoofs and of course the Unruly Boss’s compelling tracks. It is a project of pioneering decree of what a Dancehall album should encompass and represent. There’s a lot to talk about, so check out our ten takeaways:
There are two whole features with Drake.
Popcaan has included two singles in collaboration with Drake. These are Twist & Turn and All I Need. And if you listen to the intro for Twist & Turn on his SoundCloud playlist, you’ll hear the two having a phone conversation where the OVO CEO enquires about how many tracks he’ll actually be featured on in the collection. The two have so many collabs, that Popcaan responded, saying they should just make a whole album together.
It seems like we can expect to hear more songs from these friends sooner than later.
Speaking of Drake’s collabs on the FIXTAPE, and especially in Twist & Turn, not only is he flexing his patois singing skills, but he also makes it known that he was officially inducted in the Sutherland family.
He mentions Annalecia’ Unruly Squid’ Sutherland, who is Poppy’s sister, saying he listened to her when she gave him some advice, which he plans on using to get his girl back.
Listen, you’ve been missing since 2016
Squid tell me gwan fix tings
You know that’s my sis
When she speak, I listen
She swears you’re my missus
I say we think different
Fans have speculated that the lines refer to Drake’s complicated relationship with Rihanna.
GAZA for Life – Kartel repping all the way
Let’s be clear, there’s no beef with Kartel and Popcaan, and the FIXTAPE is proof of that. Let’s also get another thing straight – It’s not a mixtape!
“This is Vybz Kartel representing for the Popcaan FIXTAPE. Its not a bloodcl**t mixtape,” the Worl’ Boss says in a feature in the intro.
If that wasn’t enough, Kartel’s presence is felt through the entire listening experience as he echoes, “It’s not a bloodcl–t mixtape.” Where there are song breaks, sketches, and more dubs from other artistes, Kartel reps the FIXTAPE all the way through to the end.
He does a couple of other plugs including a shout out to Creep, saying “Chromatic di ultimate” several times, to truly create the essence of an authentic-sounding mixtape.
Lots of talk about his millions
It’s no secret Popcaan is loaded. He’s one of the flashiest deejays in Jamaica, from the ‘spaceships’ parked up in his driveway to his many houses on the island and abroad, it’s evident that he is banking.
The FIXTAPE makes a lot of mention about his ‘millions’ and how he spends it. In the single Chill, the deejay is on vacay in the hills, “Lobster on the grill, spend a couple mill.”
Fresh Polo with Stylo G and Dane Ray, he says, “Millions dem legit and nuh money fraud.”
On to Canary, he’s a “Kingpin” and “every hour a di day millions pile up/ carrot full mi neck like a bunny rabbit,” he sings.
In Friends Like These , he talks about the “diamond pon mi Rolli (Rolex) and frankly asks his haters in Jealously Die Slow to “let me drip in peace.”
He’s not stingy either, “Girl chile mi want give you di most coil,” he says in Bruck Di Buddy to his ‘clean and pretty’ lover. No matter what Poppy is singing about, he finds a way to drop in a his flossy rhymes here and there.
A dozen gun tunes
While rival deejays like Alkaline (see his recent Monopoly ) are fond of calling Popcaan a fake gangster, the Unruly Boss packs in a dozen+ gun tunes in the FIXTAPE to resonate his badness like a broken record.
They go a little something like this …
- Killy Dem Crazy – “Get di killy dem crazy now … killing daily, my skull hotter than chicken gravy.”
- Dolla Coin – “Make boy duppy leave dem body / The SK a buss magnificent/ murdera a long time.”
- Have It (ft. Skillibeng & Quada) – “Nah touch di road an nuh have it” (his gun).
- F*ck Up Di Club – Big matic wid di hammer dem built-in, bwoy cant give we talk when dem see di team walk in, talk tough get you teet beat een.”
- Any One A Dem (ft. Frahcess One) – “Walk guh kill anyone a dem, really killy killy.”
- Murda (ft. Preme & French Montana) – “Killy Killy/ Evil head mi name, Unruly Boss yuh know mi full a sin / Bwoy murda will gwaan, suh tell mi if a murda you want …Kill yuh family and run di remand.”
- Unda Dirt (ft. Masicka & Tommy Lee Sparta) -“Dem could a run in a di church, killa we a put dem unda dirt, di pu**y dem fi know mi gun a work.”
- Bad Gang – “Ano Jackie Chang mi nu fling kicks / Make duppy bat flip.. send yuh pon drip/ Fling yuh weh like digicel chip.”
- Fresh Polo (ft. Dane Ray & Stylo G) – “Rather buy a matic dan go buy sword, bad from mi a go Happy Grove / Anyweh mi deh mi gun deh, mi nuh lef it dawg, haffi load up di clip when mi lef di yaad /bad like mad max and bigs.”
- Rapid – “Steady wid di Mac mi nuh shake mi nuh trimble … mama bawl fi yuh/ Ketch eh boyfriend a stop light, buss him head lef di yellow light/ Make yuh blood run out pon di tile/ gun shot ina yuh head.”
- Jealousy Die Slow – “If you dis yuh get bullet, we nuh f*ck ‘roun, August Town / Bullet in a yuh head and den we walk weh.”
- Retribution – “Revenge, Make dem feel pain / Dem better run away / Big mac11 … pussy a go dead.”
Crazy beats
Creep Chromatic impresses with his riddim making ingenuities, switching up flows on rhythmic hip hop beats with Nas and Puff Daddy’s iconic track Hate Me Know and N.O.R.E.’s classic hit Nothin’ for Poppy’s new singles, Killy Dem Crazy and Watch Ya respectively. Then he went all the way to 1988 to Leroy Gibbon’s old dancehall love tune, Four Season Lover in the single Challis.
Poppy goes head-on, voicing on other hip-hop inspired riddims in his singles Hate, Fast Lane, and Girls In Love featuring Quada.
Mamakita has a tuneful instrumental Spanish flare, while Fresh Polo, Buzz, and Goodaz Gal are some vibe-effecting dancehall tracks.
Poppy is rapping
Well, he has to match these wicked flows somehow.
If you want to hear this dancehall deejay rapping, simply check him out on Hate and Girls In Love featuring Quada.
In Girls In Love, Poppy switches up his lingo to deliver this rap track while getting pretty animated and playful. He approaches Hate in a similar way, playing with the pitches in his voice for emphasis and creating an amazing vibe on both singles.
Behind the scenes highlights
The entire length of the album is riddled with behind-the-scene banter and spoofs, including wacky phone conversations with his collaborators. At almost every song break, Popcaan can be heard joking around in-studio during the recordings with lots of laughing in the setting from his crew.
Also, if you check out track No. 8 Hate, you’ll even witness one of the few bloopers (this one regarding an event called Nipples Tuesdays) that Poppy insisted needed to make the cut for the FIXTAPE.
Freestyle sounding tracks
The FIXTAPE definitely has a few tracks that sound as if they were built right from scratch in one take. Smoke Out featuring Bakersteez is all about smoking and ‘staying high’. The verses towards the end of the track, however, sound very spontaneous and clearly recorded while under the influence.
As Poppy freestyles through with the lyrics, you can hear his crew in the studio all laughing and reacting to his on-the-spot rhyming.
Watch Ya featuring Furnace, Shev, and Unruly Cuz sounds like another freestyle segment. Popcaan literally throws around lyrics and even yells, “idle business” candidly as everyone is heard laughing in the background. He then calls Furnace, Shev, and Cuz on the riddim for what are their unmistakable impromptu deliveries.
We didn’t miss him grabbing for straws on the single Hate either, when his fast thinking rhyming landed on a phrasing, “Nipples Tuesdays,” which he said, during more off-script banter, was an actual event at the famous King Jammys Studio in Waterhouse, Kingston.
Watch out for Mr. Steal Your Girl
Hold on to your ladies when Poppy is in town. Whether he is a self-proclaimed Mr. Steal Your Girl or ladies actually fall at his feet when he steps in a room, he sure sings about it a lot.
In the single Buzz, his new haircut took things to a whole new level, ‘Mi wi tek weh yuh gal,” he says with no apology. While in Fresh Polo, the lyrics go, “Gal dem weak to cologne, mi will tun yuh wife inna Go Go, make she wine pon di pole in a slow mo.”
In Canary, the girls “see the Kingpin (i.e Popcaan) and get wet,” and in Unda Dirt , “dem gyal dem haffi see mi and go twerk,” he says.
It doesn’t end there, in his vicious track Murda he makes another bold guarantee, “Tell di King nuh bring him wife roun mi, cause yuh will lose yuh Queen.” The track titled Girls In Love speaks for itself, and in Hate, Poppy says, they “hate me because mi f*ck dem girl daily.”
And let’s not forget Jada Kingdom drooling over some hot Popcaan in their single Suh Mi Love It.
A star-studded affair
Popcaan’s FIXTAPE is indeed a star-studded affair. There are a whole bunch of celebrity features, not only on the new singles but also in numerous shout-outs throughout the album.
Featured on the tracklist is a long list of Jamaican Dancehall artistes, namely Skillibeng, Quada, Stylo G, Dane Ray, Jada Kingdom, Masicka, Tommy Lee Sparta, Frahcess One, Furnace, Shev, Unruly Cuz and Jamaican rapper Bakersteez.
Then on the international side, there is Drake, PartyNextDoor, French Montana, and Preme.
The shout-outs range from Vybz Kartel, Drake, Koffee, Tory Lanez, Protoje, Lila Iké to even his sis Unruly Squid plus many others.
Listen to the extended YIY CHANGE FIXTAPE on SoundCloud. (The 32-tracklist is below)
Stream Popcaan’s FIXTAPE below.
The YIY CHANGE FIXTAPE Track List
- Intro
- Killy Dem Crazy
- Dolla Coin
- Have It – Skillibeng & Quada
- Fast Lane
- Chill
- Girls In Love (w/Quada)
- Hate
- All I Need – Featuring Drake
- Love It – Featuring Jada Kingdom
- Goodaz Gal
- Mamakita
- Bruck Di Buddy
- Canary
- Fuck Up Di Club
- Twist & Turn – Featuring Drake & PARTYNEXTDOOR
- Buzz
- Smoke Out – Bakersteez
- Challis
- Any One A Dem – Featuring Frahcess One
- Murda – Featuring Preme & French Montana
- Unda Dirt – Featuring Masicka & Tommy Lee Sparta
- Bad Gang
- Fresh Polo – Featuring Dane Ray & Stylo G
- Rapid
- Jealousy Die Slow
- Hengin Tree
- Watch Ya – Furnace, Shev & Unruly Cuz
- Friends Like These
- Retribution
- Bank & God
- My Way