The Bronx, New York veteran A.G. enlisting Boston, Massachusetts producer Stu Bangas to produce his 7th solo LP. Known for being 1/2 of Showbiz & A.G. as well as a member of the D.I.T.C. collective, he would make his solo debut in 1998 with The Dirty Version & came back 8 years later for the sophomore Get Dirty Radio. He has since followed these up with Everything’s Berri, The Taste of AMBrosia, Always Protect the King, NYLUV & Giant in the Mental which I personally prefer some more than others. However, I already knew $ € £ ₣ ¥ had great chances of being some hit best material individually when Stu’s involvement was announced.
“Borderline” featuring D-Flow & Diamond D angrily opens up shop talking about nobody being above them lyrically & Diamond D having my favorite guest appearance of the 2 whereas “Get It Going” continues from there providing words of wisdom. “Creatures” goes for a boom bap vibe instrumentally so he can spew unapologetically hardcore lyricism prior to Cory Gunz appearing on the hypnotic “Replicant” talking about being the naked truth with clothes.
To end the 1st half, “Skywalker” experiments with an unsetting trap atmosphere using the clouds as his stepping stone while “She Like to Dress Up So I Modeled Her” calling back to when his original moniker was reminiscent of the late WWE Hall of Famer, the shortest reigning WWE Champion & former WWE Tag Team Champion André the Giant. “Suspense” featuring Prince Julius was a more laidback cut making people disappear by merely uttering 1 sentence.
“All These Things All These People” heinously talks about coming from an era when you couldn’t rap if you didn’t write it & going to all sorts of different places while “Really Rapping” encourages people to ask his crew if he’s capping or being serious in his rhymes. “Real Hip Hop” lastly sends off the album with a boom bap outro where the hook ironically samples “Ova Here” by KRS-One on what would’ve been Afrika Bambaataa’s 69th birthday but I digress.
A great bulk of A.G.’s solo material for the past 16 years has been average at best, so $ € £ ₣ ¥ on paper seemed like it would reach the same level of quality The Dirty Version & Get Dirty Radio had reached decades earlier. Thankfully, my expectations were met because a great deal of this was enjoyable to me anyway. His pen & Stu Bangas’ production combined make for the strongest he’s sounded since all of those earlier full-lengths putting aside a couple guests sticking out personally.
Score: 8/10