Jay Worthy & Larry June, 2 P’Z IN A POD

By Leo Hewitt-Provost

03/25/2022

It’s funny, my initial thoughts to the opening half of the album were a bit all over the place, I had mixed feelings because as the project was unfolding before my eyes, I didn’t want it to stop but that’s not how I originally felt. 

As good as Vanilla Cream was, Big Funds wasn’t for me, I can appreciate the work behind the production and its 90s vibes, but the song didn’t really do it for me. The song had me wondering what the theme for the project was but it was clear as daylight on Sock It 2 Me that G Funk was a big inspiration for both rappers. 

But everything changed for me when Roc Marciano hopped on Maybe The Next Time, my ears transcended over the beat, the singing from Kleeer dating back to 1984 is immaculate and a breath of fresh air, ironic considering the music style from 2 P’z In A Pod takes a lot from the 1990s West Coast sounds, some 30 years ago.

From that point on, the next four tracks excluding the interlude and outro all resonated with me, there was a different feel to the songs as the first three, utilising soul samples and allowing Jay and Larry to rap a bit more clearly and with more substance matter, Leave It Up To Me and She’s Not Around are probably amongst my top three songs of the project with Maybe The Next Time.

It’s almost like Jay Worthy and Larry June wanted to switch things up after How 2 Knock (Interlude) but I can’t tell if it was done consciously. I’m gonna go ahead and say that it was, there is no doubt in the back of my mind how clever these two dons are.

It blows my mind how differently two halves of a project can sound nothing alike over the course of 8 full length songs, with one song being the sole exception and sort of unifying G Funk and Soul, being the track with Roc Marci. The song combines so many elements that can be heard throughout this body of work, and is used almost as a catalyst. 

Looking back at the project, I thought it was excellent, some songs will grow on me whilst others have made an instant impact, the utilisation of the samples was incredible, as was the production overall, even though I reiterate that some songs weren’t for me. But that’s fine. The work that these two artists have put over the years deserves to be talked about a lot more, the consistency and quality they translated through the music shows exactly how passionate they both are about their art.