Released on May 30, 2025,
on Encore Recordings.
With Young Slo-Be gone, EBK Jaaybo seems to have taken over. He has become the leading figure of Stockton rap. To date, he is undoubtedly the most prominent member of EBK, this collective of gangster rappers founded nearly ten years ago by his half-brother EBK Osama, shortly after the death of his father Rrari, the godfather of this entire scene. Following last year’s remarkable The Reaper, driven by the single “Boogieman,” comes Don’t Trust Me. And this album deserves just as much attention as the previous one, inviting us to spend a little more time immersed in the harrowing world of California’s ghettos.
Jaymani Gorman stays true to himself. He takes us into a nightmare world of death and desolation. Among the wide array of themes offered by gangsta rap, he focuses almost exclusively on one: homicide. He talks about taking out his enemies (“opps”) and those who disrespect the memory of Young Slo-Be or Osama, who also passed away. He even names Los, Blacc, FAD, and Spazz – the rivals the EBK gang has killed – on “Free Woahdie.” All of this is deeply unsettling.
Can’t argue ’bout no ho
Let’s argue ’bout who popped the most niggas
…Jaaybo says on “Suck Sumthin.” Because that’s really all that interests him: striking first, along with other sexist jokes not fit for every ear. Kill or be killed. Suffer or make others suffer. These are the guiding principles in a place worthy of Mad Max, where, when people aren’t killing each other, they mourn loved ones who have been shot down or who rot in prison (“Snake Mentality Pt. 3,” “Run That Bag To Me,” “Triple Cross,” “Get Back Gang”).
To amplify these intense lyrics, EBK Jaaybo and his producers deploy the appropriate sonic arsenal: the heavy bass typical of the Stockton style, punctuated at just the right moments by a bell or a bark, but also pitched vocals when melancholy takes over, or deep, ceremonial choirs when menace is in the air. They make use of unusual samples and sounds: an oriental melody on “Snake Mentality Pt. 3,” sharp steel drums on “Dirty Draks Freestyle,” or Slavic folk chants on the outstanding “Stand Over Music,” following a model pioneered by G Herbo ten years earlier when he sampled Bulgarian voices.
And at times, it’s very impressive, like the stunning opening of “Suicidal,” the electrifying “Exposing Me” with VonOff1700, and “John Wick Pt. 2,” which notably uses a guitar to express the rapper’s unresolved anguish. What Don’t Trust Me lacks is what many good rap albums in the streaming era lack: tighter selection and choices. Ten fewer tracks, out of the twenty-one on this EBK Jaaybo release, would have elevated both the album and the Stockton rap scene.
