At first glance, it’s unclear whether IDK recently binge-watched Netflix’s Drive to Survive series, had a fruitful trip to Miami for the Grand Prix, or just simply felt compelled to build his fourth studio album around the concept of F1 racing. Either way, F65 takes listeners through the turns, burns, paddock, and pit stops of IDK’s wild life.
In 2023 IDK doesn’t have pole position in popular Hip Hop’s zeitgeist; something he would likely tell you himself. At this point in his career, four albums in, he isn’t searching for a proverbial big break or TikTok dance to accompany any of his songs – propelling him into a trending topic. He’s comfortable drumming up a concept, applying it to his beats, rhymes, and life – all the while rapping his ass off.
The rubber meets the road on “Pit Stop” and IDK is off to the races with heavy bars and even heavier bass. It’s an aggressive state of the union where IDK picks up where he left off on 2022’s album Simple. There’s plenty of updated bragging, boasting and mentions of upgraded AMG’s. However, the children’s choir added to the end of the track alludes to a deeper purpose IDK is feeling: “Sometimes, my feelings are blind, blind/Sometimes, I can’t even give it a try/Sometimes, I keep it inside/But still, I cry/Still, I cry”. This bleeds right into the more emotionally aware track “Thug Tear” with Fat Trel where love, loss and street codes are discussed in full – confirming the tiers to IDK’s subject matter.
It doesn’t take long for IDK to explicitly explain why he built this album with a racing theme. On “Champs-Elysees” he quite literally says: “I’ve became infatuated with driving my AMG fast as fuckk/Coming from like a date and shit/Or like a badass bitch, you know?/Speeding to jazz music and shit/I like to say that’s like a mindfuck/Like, that shit is sexy to me, you know?” Mystery solved.
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And he’s right; Jazz is sexy when rapped over properly. The standout jazzier tracks include an upbeat ballad that doubles as a crusade against the police titled “Mr. Police” and a promiscuously smooth bop featuring Saucy Santana and Jucee Froot titled “Pinot Noir”. IDK isn’t the first rapper to spit over some rhythmic jazz sections but he definitely does it justice, weaving in and out of the tempos and melodies with ease.
Modern Hip Hop fans need not fret though. There are plenty of thundering 808s, hi-hats and trap drums that keep this album comfortably contemporary. “Salty” with NLE Choppa is a pitch-perfect back-and-forth rap attack, rivaling that of Ricky Bobby’s shake and bake. “850” with Rich The Kid keeps similar energy but with even more sinister themes of rap game domination. The real masterclass in rapping that will keep “heads” happy appears on the Benny The Butcher-assisted “Up The Score”.
Yes – the songs on F65 are fun, easy to listen to, and sound great in car speakers but there is a deeper meaning to the whole project. First and foremost, the racing theme applies to IDK’s full-circle life. The starting line serves as his childhood environment where folks struggling in his community had to steal cars to survive and evade police to the metaphorical finish line where IDK now owns multiple luxury cars of racing caliber.
Even deeper than that is the “race” of the transatlantic slave trade. With intro track “Cape Coast” (referring to the West African cape that shipped out most African slaves) serving as the starting line and the final track “Freetown” (referring to Freetown Sierra Leone where a lot of slaves were freed) serving as the finish line, IDK sprinkles in plenty of double and triple entendres that apply to history, history, and literal car racing.
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There aren’t many nits to pick on this album except for the run time. 22 songs is just far too many tracks to sit with and enjoy in one setting even when the songs are as good as this particular assortment. These days a 22-song album is only released for strategic streaming purposes (re: the Migos’ last few albums). More songs naturally bring more streams for the artist and bolsters numbers on the DSPs.
On the surface, F65 is an entertaining concept album from one of the genre’s most slept-on talents. Although it may be unfortunate that people won’t necessarily hear many of this album’s tracks in the streets, tweets, or clubs but for those who know, this just confirms IDK’s prowess as a rapper and overall competent artist.
