5 Takeaways From Nipsey Hussle & Bino Rideaux’s New Album ‘Prolific’

More than seven years removed from the tragic death of Nipsey Hussle, the music world gets a brand-new project from the rap legend. Released today, Prolific is a joint album Nip recorded with fellow LA stalwart Bino Rideaux about nine years ago. Laced with gentled melodies and romance, it’s a gentler, more seductive version of Nip. But in its own way, it’s still very potent. 

Check out our initial thoughts on it below. 

It Sounds Complete

While Prolific is technically an album released after Nipsey’s death, it doesn’t sound like a typical posthumous LP. It’s all as cohesive as it is thoughtfully curated, and there’s no song where you get the sense that they’re trying to turn fragments into complete songs. According to Nipsey’s team, all of this is because Nipsey completed the LP more than a year before his passing. If you were on the lookout for new Nipsey music that’s authentically Nipsey, you’ll be happy with Prolific. This is a full release from one of the West Coast’s best. 

It’s Mellower Than His Other Projects

While Nipsey’s as reflective as ever here, this particular project sees him lower the intensity quite a bit. There’s no “Rap N—s” or “Hussle & Motivate,” and that’s by design; this is cruiser music. Specifically, “cruising with your lady” music designed for midnight rendezvous and smoke sessions at sun up. Here, more often than not, he trades in hoarse shouts for raspy pillowtalk and flirtatious taunts for tracks that are at once meditative and seductive. Bino Rideaux’s muted, yet expressive melodies only enhance the effect. 

Bino Rideaux Might Be His Most Natural Collaborator

Tracks like his Roddy Ricch-assisted “Racks in the Middle” were perfect evidence of Nip’s ability to make crossover records. The melodic aspects formed a sort of sweet and sour combination that made for the best kind of vocal contrast. With that in mind, Bino Rideaux feels like he was a Create a Player for Nip collaborators, with his vocals grafting these tracks in a sheen of nocturnal calm. Paired with Nip verses that feel just as relaxed, it all pulls you into a trance instead of naptime. Nipsey has some great situational coworkers, but with Prolific, you can see why he chose Bino to be the one artist he dropped joint tapes with. 

Nipsey and Cardi B Also Make a Great Team

Nipsey himself teased this track years ago, and let’s just say that, when he said it was dope, he wasn’t just gassing himself. Here, Nip and Bardi get freaky for a track that honestly would have rang off if it dropped a few years ago. Honestly? It might ring off in the club now, too, with their NSFW verses and Nipsey’s hook, one previewed in Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s “Do It” a couple years ago, being pretty irresistible. I’m glad I got to hear the track, but its bittersweet knowing this is probably the last one. 

He Had a Lot More to Give

Listening to the island-inflected “Miami Off the Plane” and hearing Nips jagged vocals next to Bino’s for a whole project makes me realize that there’s a whole realm of sounds Nipsey could have evolved into. There’s a world where we get Afrobeat Nip. And there’s a world where we get Nipsey double albums with one being rugged street raps and the other being more laidback tracks for the ladies. Considering how polished and effortless all of this sounds, and that he hadn’t even actually released Victory Lap yet, I get the impression that Nipsey was really in the middle of leveling up at the time of his death. Maybe there are more unreleased vocals that can be meshed with new sounds a la 2Pac, but whatever else we get, it’s clear there could’ve been more.