Stream P-Lo’s New Mixtape, Before Anything

Today, P-Lo—who is HBK Gang's swaggy secret weapon, because his beats are as good as his raps and DJ sets—has unleashed a new batch of music into the world.

Like a lot of producers, he's often let his beats speak for him. But he really comes to life on social media, and I like that he's always pushed himself to bring that personality to the fore with his own records. He's not the most technically proficient rapper, but he's not scared to put himself out there; these songs sound like someone daring to challenge themselves. The seven-track project features hi-def production, a couple of big-name features (G-Eazy, Jay Ant), and a whole lot of love for his hometown.

"Before Anything has a lot of meanings," P-Lo explained in an email to The FADER. Most of them are personal, but of course it's also a little bit about being from the Bay: "It's really me just letting the people know who I am and what I'm capable of. Before Anything is me taking stand on where I am in my life, where I have been, and where I want to go. It's a lot of different styles and sounds, and that's real representative of who I am, growing up in the Bay Area made me such a complex human being, sometimes I'm hyphy, sometimes I'm real player, sometimes I'm in my feelings, sometimes I want to inspire others, but at the end of day I'm human and thats where the music comes from. The music comes from experiences in my life, and before anything thats what I want people to take from it."

Before Anything is the first in a series of projects P-Lo has planned; listen below and keep an eye out for the next, #MoreThanAnything.