(Self-released, digital)
Anyone paying attention to Vermont’s growing hip-hop scene knows Big Homie Wes as an institution. From his start as a young, hungry open-mic rapper, he’s evolved into a show promoter and touring artist, building a circuit throughout New England and Canada. All along, he’s remained a humble student of the game, creating opportunities for other aspiring local MCs.
Given how hard he grinds, you’d think Wes would have plenty to get off his chest. Yet there is surprisingly little venting on Let Me Vent Please. His new album finds the rapper satisfied to the point of sounding bored, even as his achievements and horizons have continued to grow.
While his 2019 release, Contraband, was a work of claustrophobic, drug-trafficking grit, Big Homie Wes is living well from his hard work these days, and most of these new songs are a celebration of his own hustle. They’re also quite short, clocking in at less than two minutes — a verse, a deadpan hook, and then it’s on to the next one.
Wes is an outlier in Vermont rap. Most of the artists around here are heavily influenced by the stamp that New York City put on the genre in the ’90s. Wes, by contrast, who hails from Texas, brings a distinctly chopped-and-screwed approach to his music. His delivery follows suit; he’s languid and low-key on the microphone. Whether you find that hypnotic or grating is a matter of taste. Personally, I’ve always dug it. It’s never sounded like an affectation or an act, just how the dude is in real life: big, chill and frequently stoned.
Let Me Vent Please is the most professional product to appear so far in the self-taught producer and engineer’s catalog. The beats are often sparse, but they slap as hard as anything else on Spotify, and his vocals sound superb.
That triumph raises an inevitable question: “What’s next for the Big Homie?” This is a portrait of an artist feeling too large for his small pond. Some kind of breakthrough seems urgently necessary, but it’s hard to guess what form that might take. Perhaps it’s a Rick Ross-style LP packed with guest features.
Or maybe it’s just a whole LP of fully realized songs like the two that close this album. “Find Out ft Samuel Guihan” makes the most of Guihan’s work on bass guitar to create a lush, smoked-out radio anthem. “Whenever” is a trap banger that features some of Wes’ best verses.
So, critiques aside? Big Homie Wes doesn’t need to change a single damn thing. Equally money-minded rappers such as Too Short and Curren$y have been making the same album for their entire careers while only getting richer for it. No matter where this road takes him, Big Homie Wes has indisputably paved his own lane.
Let Me Vent Please is available on all major streaming platforms.
This article appears in May 1-7, 2024.
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