Sexyy Red doubles down with Hood Hottest Princess (Deluxe)

Sexyy Red has released the second half to her Hood Hottest Princess album, released earlier this summer. The deluxe release arrives in the wake of a breakout year for Big Sexyy, from charting the Billboard Hot 100 with “Pound Town” to a viral set at Rolling Loud Miami, opening Drake’s “It’s All a Blur Tour” with 21 Savage, collaborations with veterans like Nicki Minaj and Chief Keef, and headlining her first own “Hood Hottest Princess Tour.”

But to listen to her latest album is to understand that Sexyy takes it all in stride. Cocky in the best way, the St. Louis rap starlett is unafraid of everything brash, jarring, and freaky. She delivers on music that both shocks and invites, bringing listeners into her lyrical world of baby daddies, toe sucking, nachos (or “not yours”), and the undeniable allure of straight-up confidence.

Building upon some of the original album’s summer hits, like “SkeeYee” and “Pound Town 2” featuring Nicki Minaj, Hood Hottest Princess (Deluxe) delivers with another 30 minutes of raunchy, good-humored, hard-hitting rap.

Though her raw, lilted affect makes the lyrical delivery feel almost casual over hard trap stutters and pulsing 808, Hood Hottest Princess (Deluxe) is a showing of crystal-clear rapping, solid production, and, if somewhat unoriginal, early-2000s-esque track beats that still bang. The extended album is bolstered also by appearances from street rapping high-rollers like Chief Keef, G Herbo, 42 Dugg, and Sukihana, with R&B singer Summer Walker gracing the track “I Might.”

With Sexyy herself as the driving creative force of her work, there’s no filter. She’s saying what she wants to say and to whoever she wants to say it to — even when that means “Tell Joe Biden / I wanna suck on the president.” Without diving much deeper, the album plays up explicit content and tried-and-true genre tropes in a way that feels entirely purposeful. It’s music that's meant to pump fans up — nasty, joyful, and sure to get a crowd out of seats and sweaty. As a continuation of a summer arguably marked by young female rap artists, Sexyy’s unapologetic swagger feels empowering in and of itself.