The veteran California rap producer Mustard helped define the sound of early-’10s West Coast rap, but he might be having his biggest moment right now. Mustard produced Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” one of this year’s defining tracks and the biggest Mustard-produced single of all time. Mustard also opened Kendrick’s Pop Out concert with a set full of all-star guests, and he danced with Kendrick in the great “Not Like Us” video. Today, Mustard releases his new album Faith In A Mustard Seed.
Faith In A Mustard Seed isn’t the definitively West Coast album that you might expect after “Not Like Us.” Instead, it’s an ambitiously regionless pan-genre A-list thing. The album features Mustard doing some of his own rapping, and it’s also got appearances from artists like Young Thug, Future, Roddy Ricch, Lil Yachty, Kirk Franklin, Quavo, Ty Dolla $ign, Uncle Charlie Wilson, Kodak Black, Lil Durk, and Ella Mai. (No Kendrick, sadly.) For reasons that I cannot possibly imagine, Mustard announced the album with a video for his gospel-inflected 10-minute closing track “Pray For Me,” and his Travis Scott collaboration “Parking Lot” is also on the record.
But the Faith In A Mustard Seed track that will probably interest Stereogum readers the most is the one that features Vince Staples and ScHoolboy Q, two longtime critical favorites from the West Coast. “Pressured Up” has a classically propulsive and minimal Mustard beat. Over that production, Vince and Q radiate low-key menace, staying calm while letting you know that they’re ready for anything. Check it out below.
If you’re interested, you can stream all of Faith In A Mustard Seed below.
Faith In A Mustard Seed is out now on 10 Summers/BMG.