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![Heaven Or Hell (CHOPNOTSLOP REMIX)](/https/music.apple.com/assets/artwork/1x1.gif)
By nature and nurture, Don Toliver embodies the spirit of Houston. The native son’s slurred, delirious melodies play out like a distorted fever dream, complete with candy-painted slabs and hazy euphoria. The aesthetic was there by the time he unloaded 2018's Donny Womack and 2020's Heaven or Hell, but even with those releases, Heaven Or Hell (CHOPNOTSLOP REMIX) feels something like a homecoming. For the project, area legends OG Ron C and DJ Candlestick change the pitches and rhythms to a slow cruise, making another entry in the city's chopped-and-screwed tradition. The technique has been applied to music across the rap world, but it never hits the same when it's not from Houston. Here, Toliver's warbles feel like they're soaked in a river of codeine, with the Texas rap crooner gripping two double cups and an iPhone filled with lyrics. Alongside Travis Scott and Kaash Paige, Toliver melts into an astral soundbed for "Euphoria"; they say they're drowning and it sounds like it. With its slowed tempo, "After Party" carries a subdued exhilaration you might find in a VIP lounge at 4 a.m., drowsy and unfailingly stylish. The BPM changes cover everything with a layer of smoke, which only reinforces production that was already nocturnal. And yet, pitched down or not, Toliver's melodies are no less mellifluous. For “No Idea,” his colourful murmurs mesh with the darkness like pink and purple chalk on the blacktop. With the makeover, Heaven Or Hell is an engrossing, foggy malaise that only makes Toliver's voice linger—like a club-dweller ignoring the bouncer's call to skedaddle. For "Spaceship," Toliver raps about being impatient, but in slow motion, it doesn't feel as if he's in a hurry. His vocals, along with the sunken synths, create a morose ambience that tells you to sit down.