Last year, Houston-born rapper Fat Tony released his fourth studio album, MacGregor Park. The record was Fat Tony's first solo release since 2013's Smart Ass Black Boy, and paid homage to one of Tony's fondest childhood community parks, Houston's MacGregor Park. It was just under 30 minutes of forward-thinking ideas and raps, often playing between high-energy bops and laid-back, rap grooves about fast food and the recovering the day after a party. It was a tightly packaged project with an intense amount of charm.
One of the more colorful tracks on the album is "Money All Around," produced by Kweku Saunderson. Today, EARMILK is happy to premiere the track's music video, directed by James Thomas Marsh.
As soon as "Money All Around" begins, Kweku Saunderson's bleepy-bloop beat grabs the listener through trap hi-hats and cutesy, darkish synths, a-la a leaned out soundtrack to an episode of Adventure Time. When the drums kick in, the beat sets up the rhythm for Fat Tony to jump around and deliver the song's repetitive hook: "Yeah, I'm throwing money around". It's hard to imagine this hook not translating well live. As Fat Tony calms down and raps facts about his life, it's clear the rapper was self-aware about making a song about money, and having a ton of it – he seems more reserved about revealing how loaded he is, yet he still brags, modestly. Lyrically, the song feels like a self-conscious braggadocio anthem, but ultimately, the message is clear: Fat Tony made it, and he's paying his damn bills on time.
In an interview with Revolt last year, Fat Tony explained "Money All Around" and its idea:
This is a song about coming up: being broke at one point, doubting yourself, having others doubting you, then eventually making it. 'Damn, I made it.' When I’m talking about throwing money all around, I’m talking about being able to pay my teammates and people I work with. Not like, throwing money at a strip club.
Peep the music video up above and watch Fat Tony chill with some friends in a hot tub and talk his shit in L.A. MacGregor Park is streaming everywhere. Buy the album on cassette at Gnar Tapes.
Photo Credit: Nathanael Turner
