Released September 25, 2026,
on Paper Route Empire.
Zaytoven is doing just fine, thank you very much. He regularly reminds us that he hasn’t lost his knack for crafting those infectious little tunes you just can’t shake. Things are a bit more complicated when it comes to his longtime partner Gucci Mane, but that’s hardly a problem. Because whether alongside him or elsewhere, like in Memphis with Young Dolph and his circle, others have kept alive the absurd, irreverent brand of trap music Guwop popularized before and after 2010, back when he ruled Atlanta rap.
Big Moochie Grape is one of them. And this year, lo and behold, the exuberant Paper Route Empire rapper has teamed up with the aforementioned producer. Not just for a track or two, either, but for an entire project, naturally billed as a mixtape, just like in the old days, and titled – you guessed it – Grapetoven. For the occasion, the Memphis rapper has briefly stepped outside BandPlay’s sonic universe to get back to the original sound.
And there it is. Right from the jump. Those vintage producer tags (the kid shouting “Zaytoven!”, the hurried three-note piano flourish accompanying his name), those little synthetic chimes, those two or three addictive piano notes, those innocent-sounding melodies that get your head bobbing, that bouncy, deceptively guileless music that dresses up tales of drugs and bitches in nursery-rhyme tunes, and often proves more sophisticated than it first appears (“13 Days”). Grapetoven is a trip back through the sonic trademarks of the era: that female voice chirping “hi” to mark the beat, those strange, sliding synths…
As for Big Moochie, he turns into Big Muwop. And it’s business as usual – Paper Route style. Tales of a guy who came up from the gutter and made it to the top, delirious fantasies of wealth filled with flashy cars and beautiful women, stories of stacking cash by the thousands (“Big Deposits”), of wrists, whips and kitchens (“34”), all delivered with mock seriousness and genuine hilarity.
The two of them drive the point home on the excellent closing track, “Still Signed To Dolph”: the rapper remains loyal to Dolph, and the producer remains true to himself. Grapetoven delivers exactly – and I mean exactly – what you’d expect from a Zaytoven and Big Moochie Grape collaboration. Word for word, note for note. But that’s precisely what’s so great about these guys: they never let you down.