Every now and again I hear something that just gets stuck in my head. I came across Talking Money by R.O.C. The Don and the next thing I knew the chorus was looping in my brain hours later. It’s good fortune for him. I'm in the mood to bump money and grind music. After I write this I’ll be heading out to make some cash, literally putting my foot on the gas to drive some Uber later tonight.
We’ll get into the song in a bit, but first who is R.O.C. Tha Don? The bio on his Linkfly states he began rapping in Fulton County all the way over in Atlanta. This is very transparent in his sound, and offers a good explanation since it turns out R.O.C. Tha Don is currently in Gloversville, New York.
Stalking his socials I see him on his grind. He (along with two others) has a whole music label/collective he’s been working on called Touched Up Entertainment. His squad has been constantly dropping for years.
His new song doesn’t have a release date yet to my knowledge. His Instagram teases “soon”. However you can see him performing the song here, with Vermont based rapper Big Homie Wes joyfully throwing cash in the back.
Let’s get into it.
What goes into a Behind That Suit album review:
I’m not a super duper music critic. My role is to go over the different elements of the song and try and help identify who would like it. Here is what we’ll cover in the next few sections:
Album cover/song title (this is the seduction element)
The beat/mixing
The lyrics
The flow & delivery
My impressions of the song as a whole
A song is a complete package made up of several key ingredients. It’s worth analyzing each of them independently, but we can’t forget to think about the song as a whole.
The idea is to identify where the artist excels and be frank about where the artist can improve. I make sure to cover as much as I possibly can. You may also find the things I emphasize different from what you care about. That’s why this is my review and not yours.
R.O.C. Tha Don Talking Money album cover and song title
This song title is very clear. This is effective and super in line with what good titles do. It communicates the subject matter, while still not giving away everything. You either want to hear a song about getting money, or you don’t. Talking Money is a title that can go in many directions, but you aren’t expecting homie to fall in love and fold laundry on this one.
The only danger in a simple title like this, is that other people definitely have songs called Talking Money. I checked Spotify, they do. It almost sounds a bit too sanitized. As if it’s hoping the algorithm is going to pick it up. It’s debatable if this matters. As long as the people who want to hear about money talk click on it, mission accomplished.
I like the cover a lot. The faded old photograph effect adds this nostalgic feel. It subtly appeals to my 36 year old self. Visually I get the sense this is old man money making music. The nameless, but seemingly designer bag stuffed with cash is attractive. It makes you feel like the fast lane is in full effect.
One of the hundreds also looks like it has blood on it.
There is a spread of cash and some crumpled bills as well. Sunglasses and a rolex looking watch inside the bag. It’s mostly black, white and grayscale colours. This adds to the motif of “by any means” intensity. There are some colours in the patches on the bag and money, also his name is in yellow. It stands out.
The cover has a moviesque feel. That’s because of the rated R box on the bottom left. The cover understood the assignment.
R.O.C. Tha Don Talking Money beat and mixing
The song is produced and engineered by Yabba Dabba Doo Productions. They also made the cover.
The dark synthy feel of the beat matches what the cover communicates. It comes in gritty and sets the mood of the song. Somewhere about 26 seconds in the beat drops. The drums deliver with an upbeat trappy vibe that makes you want to move. This song captures a subdued but strong energy.
The melodies in the leads are dark, but motivational. Especially when the strings kick in while he’s talking about getting money. It musically goes from horroresque to triumph.
The bassline melody makes me want to hustle. It supports the leads nicely with its own personality. Far too often the bass is just the leads turned down highs. It’s my favourite part of the beat.
The mixing is clean. Each element comes through crispy. R.O.C. Tha Don’s voice is complemented by the beat. There aren’t superfluous elements that compete for attention. It sounds good on my phone, in my car and on my mid level sound bar.
Yabba Dabba Doo Productions came correct on this one.
R.O.C. Tha Don Talking Money lyrics
This song does not reinvent the wheel. It instead delivers on everything you think it will be based on what I’ve said so far. As an example, here is the chorus
I’m talking money
I’m talking knots
I’m taking cash
Get big Guap
I blow it fast
Big money bags
I’m on a mission
Foot on the gas
R.O.C. Tha Don needs to make big money, so he can keep spending big money. That whole fast lifestyle thing the cover and title projected is brought to life. While these lyrics can easily be interpreted as generic, I want to pay him some flowers. This is nicely written. It’s clear, all the brevity is in play and most importantly he’s written something a drunk version of us would want to scream out.
Well-written generic is also known as good pop. You can’t be mad at a guy for writing a good pop hook.
The verse illustrates more of the same in all honesty. Here are some bars:
I’m stacking my paper
I’m stacking my chips
I’m chasing that bag
I’m up on my shit
Cash flow fuck hoes
Get money you homies know
Money moves I keep it cool
I do my dance yeah I’m on the move
Full disclosure. As a white guy I just wrote homies. He did not use that word. Moving along, I don’t really know what to comment on. It’s exactly what it’s supposed to be. I’m again impressed by the finesse in his writing. Nothing feels weird. Every bar is cohesive and flows into the next. It’s just motivational money making hustler music.
Later on the money is clearly acquired and we live up to the second part of the chorus. Spending it.
Diamonds shining
Fresh fit
A homie bout to head to the bank
I’m cashing out bout to head to the club
Throw some ones get fucked up
This is the safe kind of hustler music that both people in the struggle and middle class moms driving minivans love. I respect how he wrote directly to his target audience.
R.O.C. Tha Don Talking Money flow & delivery
The reason I’m praising how well written his lyrics are is because of his flow and delivery. A lot of times rappers say a whole lot, but in a clunky way that doesn’t fit. R.O.C. Tha Don instead fits snuggly into every little pocket he explores on this beat.
He varies the speed and cadence of the delivery of each line to keep you interested. His vocal tones bring a strong, motivational speaker energy. He is using his voice as an extension of the beat rather than competing with it.
He’s extremely precise. This is something that comes with a lot of experience. It’s why his potentially generic lyrics work so well. They are in the spirit of other great songs in this genre. Instead of trying too hard and failing or trying to impress you with over the top tomfoolery, everything is smooth.
His voice feels like it’s dancing with the beat. Even if he and the engineer did a little surgery, they took the time to craft a really well made song. I’m pretty familiar with the recording process however, this sounds like R.O.C. Tha Don took the time to perfect his flow on this one.
Arguably, he has a great flow on most of his music. Most, is an assumption, I have heard about 8 songs.
I think he nailed the most important part. Making the song a good song. Flow is more important than lyrics, every time in my opinion.
R.O.C. Tha Don Talking Money overall song feeling
When you want to wake up in the morning and find that spark to get going, throw on Talking Money. When you want to hit the gym and need to do one more set, throw on Talking Money. This song is a well crafted get motivated joint for people with money on their mind.
As you saw earlier on Instagram, it’s good for props at the live show. Living in a country with single dollar bills must be nice. Throwing a stack of bills at 5$ per is a lot more expensive. I don’t have money like that.
This song has a singalong feel to it. You could literally perform it twice in a row and get away with it. R.O.C. Tha Don set out to make an anthem and he did.
So that the world doesn’t feel I’m just gassing the man up, remember I did call the lyrics well written generic pop. I am aware of what this song is. I’m just really impressed by how it got stuck in my head, and I was singing along to it after a couple of listens. A lot of y’all don’t get stuck in my head.
The package meets expectations. There is no feeling of cognitive dissonance. Every element is thought out and works well together. Good song.
Who should bump this?
People who want to go do all that stuff I said in the last section. Hustlers trying to make money who like a good southern trap sound. The beat is really well made. The song is well performed. If this came on when I was at a show I’d really enjoy it.
It’s for people who want to get money. Anything else would be repetitive so I’ll leave it at that. Check it out and great job R.O.C. Tha Don.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone