After kicking off the rollout for his sophomore album with smooth cuts “Black 2” and “Faces,” Compton rapper Buddy switches it up for his latest single, “Ain’t Sweet” featuring 15 year-old rapper and labelmate Matt Ox. Featuring a jangling, bass-pounding beat and high-energy raps from both Buddy and Matt Ox, the song revives the infectious, rambunctious vibe of some of Buddy’s earliest mischievous bangers like his 2011 debut single “Awesome Awesome” — which he released, incidentally, when he was the same age Ox is now.
Although Buddy hasn’t officially announced his upcoming album, in a recent interview with Document, he does mention, “My album was supposed to be out already. I was supposed to be on tour already. When the pandemic struck, everything got postponed. It was a blessing and a curse because I feel like it gave me more time to properly package up my album to be released with a rollout. I feel like prior to the pandemic everything was kind of rushed, largely because of scheduling. Now I just feel more confident about the music—I just know it is going to last.”
In the meantime, though, he held fans over with the collaborative Janktape, Vol. 1 featuring Los Angeles vocalist and close friend Kent Jamz, following it up with the video for mixtape standout “Bad Boys.”
Listen to Buddy and Matt Ox’s “Ain’t Sweet” above.