The Singles Jukebox

I mean, they could’ve mentioned Ventura…

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[7.25]

Thomas Inskeep: It’s been 20 years since 2Pac and Dr. Dre dropped “California Love,” so the state is due for a new anthem — and newcomer Colonel Loud delivers with “California.” Superbly produced by (the unfortunately named) Mr. Hanky, “California” is based on a gorgeous loop from Maze’s “We Are One,” giving it that perfect summertime feel. T.I. opens the proceedings referencing “California Love,” no less — and welcome back, Tip! Nice to get a reminder of what a good rapper you can be when you wanna. Crooner Ricco Barrino has hook duty, and he deserves to become the Nate Dogg of the mid-’10s. Young Dolph and Loud spit some nimble raps about the greatness of California, and especially its weed and its ladies, shouting out plenty of locales. As one who’s called the state home since 2004, I appreciate the vibe — it’s hard to go wrong with a Maze sample, but the positivity this track oozes is refreshing as anything too.
[9]

Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa: Maze’s “We Are One” is a thing of legend, so it took producer Mr. Hanky just a bouncy beat and the right amount of chopping to create a true Cali banger. It’s a kush anthem that feels like a Mustard/Dre lovechild, and the verses — especially T.I’s — make that sunny, smoked-out sound work in their favour, but it all comes down to that monster of a sample. Bonus point for having Fantasia’s brother sing such a solid hook. 
[8]

Alfred Soto: A would-be summer jam as cold as Christmas, “California” has four dudes driving with the top down trying to top each other’s dumb fantasies. Everyone sounds too old for this shit, including Barrino, who imitated an defribillator on T.I.’s “Porn Star” years ago.
[5]

Crystal Leww: It’s always been odd to me how T.I. hasn’t charted particularly well the last few years despite being on every radio station in the South all the time, but I always guessed every other part of the country couldn’t really get behind his drawl most of the time. So imagine my surprise when I found out that he teamed with Colonel Loud and Ricco Barrino from North Carolina and Young Dolph from Memphis to make a song about California, and ended up doing pretty well on the Hip-Hop Airplay charts overall. “California” is terrible, though: Barrino’s hook ends with some ascending snazzy gimmick, Young Dolph and Colonel Loud both spend their verses listing objects about California they like (weed, palm trees) and a bunch of locations and roads, and worst of all is T.I. who seemingly recorded his verse without listening to the beat.
[3]

Anthony Easton: These fellows seem to know quite a bit about the geography of the state they desire, including a desire to “hang out in Fresno,” which I don’t think anyone has willingly done in years. So, extra points for their wide tastes. 
[8]

Brad Shoup: Does it matter that no one here sounds like they’ve been to California? Maybe this is an inverse Los Angeles Plays Itself, where the geography of the imagination stands in for the real thing. No matter though, the keys shine like an inferior image on a hot highway. And the full-band-sounding windup to Barrino’s pipsqueak chorus is pretty great.
[8]

Rebecca A. Gowns: Absolutely tacky through and through — but everyone involved is having fun with it, and their silly joy pervades. This needs to be on the next commercial for the state’s tourism board.
[9]

Madeleine Lee: I’ve never been to California, but I have plenty of fantastical ideas about what it might be like, so I can dig this as another set of fantasies: the Mustard-as-G-funk illusion, the concept of the best weed in the entire world, that repeating syncopated break that’s straight out of a musical. I’m sure that this four minutes and change makes for a more enjoyable vacation than I could get in reality.
[8]