Rap fans are all too familiar with how police surveil artists, using their lyrics to connect them to crimes, as seen in the cases of Bobby Shmurda in 2014 and Drakeo the Ruler last year. While we are thoroughly enjoying hearing how rap can exist on just about any beat, it doesn’t take much to deduce what could happen next. Watching these videos, it's hard not to worry about the young men who populate them: young rappers whose cleverness is matched by their candor, the same candor that inspires them to open up about their traumas for DJ Vlad, and others like it, to exploit. I ain’t gon lie, that shit still fuck with me though.” “I tried to shield him and get out at the same time because we were trapped in. “I tried to shield him and shit, make sure he was good, but I couldn’t shield everybody though,” he said. Ace says he and a group of friends were leaving dinner after celebrating Smith’s 18th birthday as they sat at a red light, gunfire erupted. In 2019, Yungeen Ace went on DJ Vlad's YouTube channel and detailed the events of what happened the night his brother, Royale Smith, died. By the end of the song, you realize that as a listener we have stepped in the middle of some mess and this isn’t about fun and games at all. The group starts naming names, which, according to Genius annotations, are the names of deceased Florida teens. That opening line is just the beginning of how deep the insults cut, and by the time the song arrives at the hook, it's downright disrespectful. “When I see you I’ma push yo shit back, boy,” Spinabenz raps.
“Who I Smoke” leans on the golf course aesthetic, like a slew of music videos before it, but quickly pulls a bait and switch. In March, Yungeen Ace, along with fellow Jacksonville, Florida rappers Spinabenz, Whoppa Wit Da Choppa, and FastMoney Goon, released “Who I Smoke,” a posse cut which sampled Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles.” Carlton, for her part, had a complicated relationship with the song, telling VICE that she “hated" it "for years.” But we can probably thank Terry Crew’s performance in the 2004 comedy White Chicks for introducing Black audiences to its cheesy, sickly sweet charm-a quality that made the song the perfect fodder for OT Genasis' parody rendition.