Most Sauce Walka songs adhere to the identical fundamental blueprint, no matter their themes. The Houston rapper’s voice begins out at conversational ranges—properly, the kind of dialog you’ve along with your loudest pal at a reasonably turnt social gathering—and often ends with each bar touchdown at full drive, like a preacher booming from a pulpit of fireplace and sweet paint. Walka (born Albert Mondane) has used that template since he started spitting underneath that identify in 2014—a framework that he’s utilized to a dizzying array of beats, from entice and Miami bass to early aughts New York boom-bap. However he’s additionally had a fascination with soul and gospel samples that stretches again to his very beginnings as A-Stroll within the late 2000s. 2018’s Sauce Ghetto Gospel was the primary time he devoted a complete undertaking to rhyming over gospel samples. It’s plain that his highly effective vocals, slick wordplay, and storytelling shines over these sounds, and the third entry within the Sauce Ghetto Gospel collection proves he’s as potent as ever.
Walka is a singular presence on the mic, however a daring voice and bravado can solely take you up to now. Fortunately, he matches that depth with storytelling that builds on huge feelings and tearful confessions, discovering a center floor between classic Boosie and youthful bleeding hearts, like YoungBoy By no means Broke Once more. There are moments the place he imagines by no means seeing his youngsters or feeling sunshine on his pores and skin once more (“First Testomony”), and others the place he calls out rappers for faking lean addictions, solely to descend via the reminiscences of his personal paralyzing habit (“I Dropped It”).
His consideration to emotion and element is additional magnified on songs like “Brothers Story,” the place a drug deal gone unhealthy results in squeezed triggers and rivers of blood. At first, the observe appears to chronicle another person’s narrative, with Walka rapping within the second particular person. However the scope widens progressively to disclose Walka is referring to his personal brother’s dying, as he self-administers a tongue-lashing: “This ain’t [Grand Theft Auto:] San Andreas/You bought your lil’ brother murdered tryna get some head/And on prime of that, you tried to finesse him like he was gettin’ bread.”
Lyrically, the Sauce Ghetto Gospel collection is designed to purge demons, however there are a handful of lighter moments to ease the stress. Walka brings the identical conviction to “Slab Vacation,” a thunderous celebration of Houston automobile tradition, and the blow-a-bag-on-your-shawty anthem “Good Coochie.” Songs grind to a halt when Walka turns into somewhat too relaxed; often, he falls again on ill-informed sizzling takes and boorish language that goes from absurd to offensive. It’s unlucky to listen to Walka delve into the struggles of individuals hardworking individuals within the first half of “GG3 Intro,” solely to default to boneheaded theories on Black-on-Black crime after which declare that Kanye West was “crucified” by the media. He places his foot in his mouth typically sufficient for it to depart a bitter style, however not typically sufficient to totally derail the album; they’re awkward bumps on an in any other case easy trip.
Walka has confirmed time and time once more that he can rap over something, however there’s a purpose that he’s dedicated to the Sauce Ghetto Gospel collection sufficient to pump out three volumes. His phrases land with extra goal over these beats; the flows develop into extra unpredictable, and, for some time, his perspective is the one one which issues. Very like the Daringer-produced beat he rapped over throughout his highlight look on YouTube freestyle collection From the Block final yr, Sauce Ghetto Gospel 3’s finest songs are intoxicating as a result of they draw from the properly that impressed Walka to rap within the first place—of all of the beats he’s tamed, these are the place he’s most keen to bleach the bones of his previous and cruise round in souped-up automobiles for the pure pleasure of it. It’s hardly revolutionary, however Sauce Ghetto Gospel 3 is a reminder of simply how satisfying the bread and butter might be.
