Lloyd Banks Hasn’t Lost A Step On “Sidewalks”

All seems right in the game again, as Lloyd Banks has returned with his first studio album in over ten years, The Course Of The InevitableAlready receiving early praise from his loyal fans, Banks proved he hasn’t lost a step in the slightest — in fact, he’s arguably more refined than ever, having soaked in the game from a birds-eye view and surged in with a whole playbook of new flows.

While there’s certainly much to unpack across the eighteen-track album, it feels appropriate to highlight “Sidewalks,” the song he originally previewed in the early COTI reveal trailers. Over a tense piano-driven boom-bap instrumental by CARTUNEBEATZ, Banks makes it clear he’s swinging for the jugular off the bat. “Keep molding what you’ve been aware of, left DNA all the places I been,” he spits. “My spot isn’t rented, your favorite rappers don’t race to top 10 / Dangerous the way my mind spinnin’, if opposition chop limbs / Not only did nig*as go clone me, my alter ego got twins.”

If you appreciate lyricists, you’d be wise to check out Lloyd Banks’ The Course Of The Inevitable in full. As he raps in the first verse’s climactic bars — “the G.O.A.T. conversation is overdue.” Is it time to start bringing Lloyd Banks’ name into the conversation? 

QUOTABLE LYRICS

Keep molding what you’ve been aware of, left DNA all the places I been
My spot isn’t rented, your favorite rappers don’t race to top 10
Dangerous the way my mind spinnin’, if opposition chop limbs
Not only did nig*as go clone me, my alter ego got twins