Ukrainian-American lyricist Your Old Droog is about to release his 11th EP, albeit the second and final in 2025. On his self-titled debut album, many actually first thought of him as Nas’ alter ego due to some similarities in their sounds. He eventually became a legend on his later projects such as Packs, It Wasn’t Even Close, TIME and the Nicholas Craven-produced YOD Wave. In my opinion, “YOD Stewart”, “Yodney Dangerfield”, “The Yodfather” and “The Shining” are not as great, although they certainly have their highlights, and the previous summer’s movie became a portrait of his life on wax. It’s been a full 4 weeks since anything was possible, YOD Serling has arrived, and Christmas is less than a week away.
The Edan-produced “Suspects” begins with a chopped-up chipmunk soul sample so that YOD can vividly tell the story of a heist in progress, and after “Pitstop” takes the boom-bap route of still enjoying the simple things whenever he questions why he’s back in town, “Ghostwriter” goes drum-less thanks to Edan once again recalling an artist who reached the top and continues to use ghostwriters.
The song “Victims of the Streets” is sampled with Edan continuing to showcase the latter’s ear for the last time, with Droog recalling those who perished in the hood due to poverty, while “Freekazoid” takes on a gritty boom bap vibe on the EP thanks to K-Nite 13’s reference to the underrated mid-90s animated series Freakazoid! Owned by Warner Bros. and Amblin Entertainment.
Originally announced in May 2017, it was something of a Christmas miracle for someone like me who had been following Your Old Droog closely since my senior year of high school, when his self-titled debut yod Serling finally arrived and loved it more than anything possible. 60% of the production is a precursor to YOD’s next full-length work, produced entirely by Edan, with lyrics centered more around his storytelling abilities.
Score: 8/10
