ALBUM REVIEW: The Aesthetic Joys of Wavy Cunningham’s Life on 10
“In a region of grimy, East Coast hip-hop, Wavy Cunningham presents an easy listen full of late summer hits.”
Wavy Cunningham is a decidedly local musician; on his new album, Life on 10, you can find him eating at The Pickle or posted up at Paper Moon, both hubs for music in downtown Troy. Earlier this year, you might have seen him performing at The Hangar or speaking to University at Albany students about hip-hop music and being incorrect about the Kendrick/Drake beef.
That being said, Wavy Cunningham does not make local music. On Life on 10, Wavy presents a refreshing sound inspired by recent waves in pop-rap and R&B which stands in stark contrast to the more throwback, “East Coast” style you might typically associate with 518 hip-hop.
There’s something to be said in this album about what it means to be a rapper generally, but also for Wavy, uniquely, and for all artists with a developing following. Where a rockstar is almost always a rockstar, with some rebellious hairstyle and an addiction, a rapper expresses their stardom in more various ways. Underlying Life on 10 is a desire to live a rapper lifestyle – Wavy looks to “buy [his] mama[‘s] crib, then buy [his] mom a crib” and “run[s] shit like the mob” – while maintaining a distance from the hedonism of it all. Wavy introduces “Lalo” (beat by Quincy Hitch) thusly: “I’m just trying to chill, you know what I mean? I’ve been going through a lot. I’m not really with the fame. More interested in getting my people paid.”
Wavy and producer By Foley reach for basketball sound bites and analogies frequently on the opening track, “They on 6,” which plays into all of this imagery well. Basketball, like hip-hop, rewards both skill and style. Wavy thus leans on his strong lyrical talent, his core skill, while adopting some of the styles of popular music from the past decade or so. The beats on this album deviate from the jazz-rap bent Wavy has had previously into contemporary R&B territory in some spots and boom-bap nostalgia beats. Cunningham further adopts a melodic flow that travels up a chord or scale and resolves on the tonic to complement a rhyme, creating a smooth and ear-wormy sound in most verses.
While the album lyrically approaches some griefs in Wavy’s life – for example, he admits to “writing bars in the rain at the bus stop to ease the pain” and elsewhere complains about the lack of “hope for the youth” – these don’t dominate the album. Their presence instead highlights the desirability of the life of a rapper, Wavy presenting his persona as a form of escapism throughout.
These elements combine to create a cautious hedonistic aspirationality throughout Life on 10; the album wants to help create pleasure in life and, specifically, to do so with intention. The hooks are strong throughout and often use a detail or 2 out of place to juxtapose a desire for enjoyment with something else. The track “4 Tha Night,” accompanied by a Luka Burr beat, carries every listener’s new vocal stim in Wavy’s autotune glide on “balling out OD” in a song that expresses the temporality of lust.
Other, more driving beats like “Lucius Fox” and “Heat of the Moment” give Wavy the opportunity to express frustration and pride, respectively, while staying relaxed in his flow. These are the more traditional hip-hop hits, still tinged with Wavy’s unique style and taste in production. Beats like “Lalo” hang in a cloud trap atmosphere which has dominated hip-hop albums since the early A$AP days; Wavy approaches these tracks with an easy, relaxed flare.
If you love hip-hop, check out this album. If you’re not usually a hip-hop fan but you love pop music from the past 10 years or so, check out this album. If you have any more barbeques, nights at hipster bars, or second dates planned – really any fun nights which you wouldn’t describe as “wild” – you’ll want to check through and playlist some tracks. For those with time limits, go listen to “Lalo” and “4 Tha Night.”