LB SPIFFY
Lb No Pounds
Album · Hip-Hop/Rap · 2020
Listening to the major-label debut from LB Spiffy, it’s easy to understand how this teenage rap prodigy from Toronto has earned co-signs from Drake and TikTok shout-outs from Kylie Jenner. LB (short for Loyal Boss) possesses one of those instantly striking voices—a gentle nasal drone that buffs the edges of his jagged trap beats and melts down his staccato rhymes into easy-flowing melodies. Its uncanny qualities are most pronounced when he’s paired with other MCs: Squaring off against Louisville rapper 2KBABY on “Go Pro”, LB lets his own clipped delivery blur into a trippy Auto-Tuned symphony of vocal tics. But while cheeky tracks like “KAWASAKI” (wherein LB requests that his bedroom partner ride him like the namesake motorcycle) speak to his basest desires, the acoustic-guitar-looped “Not Lyin” is a stark portrait of growing up in Toronto’s notorious Jane and Finch neighbourhood, framing LB’s drive to succeed as a life-or-death proposition.