Slinky and casual at the onset but quickly unfolding into an elaborate slow jam steeped in as much of an old school R&B aesthetic as it is modern trap influences, Littles’ new single with David Ruffin Jr., “Grind Hard,” is easily one of the best collaborations either artist has participated in thus far. Ruffin’s melodic vocal seems to complement the stylish lines Littles rhymes with ease all too perfectly, but upon closer inspection, there isn’t any synthetized help aiding the chemistry between these two players. “Grind Hard” is, as its name would allude, an exhibition of the kind of magic these guys can conjure up when they’re working off the same framework, and ultimately it produces a performance I wouldn’t recommend any fan skip over this month.
The beat in this single is a little pendulous, but were it not designed to be a bit hesitant next to all of the swagger we’re getting of the mics, I don’t know if it would be as big a contributor to the mood in the music as it is in this specific scenario. In order to yield the kind of sensuous environment these artists were trying to put together for “Grind Hard,” every element of the mix had to be worked out to some extent. It’s a difficult balance to strike, but nevertheless, Ruffin and Littles manage to find a way for lush, atmospheric instrumentation and focused linguistics to coexist here without the resulting jam sounding cluttered or too complex for most mainstream audiences’ taste.
Neither the bassline nor the vocal do much to advance the minimalist groove started by the percussion in this track, and yet there’s not any gaps in the rhythm at all – even the lulls in the beat leave us hungry for whatever catharsis is waiting to come undone on the other side of the verse. I’m not sure that I would call this the mathiest single Littles has recorded in collaboration with another artist, but you’d have to be crazy to ignore the intricacies in the arrangement here. Some real thought and heart went into making this a special release, and if it raises the profile for either of its stars in the underground, it will have served its purpose and then some.
“Grind Hard” concludes on the back of its signature harmony – courtesy of the one and only David Ruffin, Jr. – and while it’s foundations have enough in common with the pop model to make it tangible for FM airplay, it’s obvious none of the core aesthetics here were sacrificed in the name of accessibility alone. Littles has an ambitious set of goals he’s laying out in 2020, and if that wasn’t clear to his fans and the critics before the debut of this latest release, it should be beyond the point of debate now. I like the stylistic suggestions of “Grind Hard,” and with its sharp melodies at the forefront of the presentation, I don’t see why it won’t be another indie hit for its talented collaborators.
Troy Johnston