Ghanaian rapper Medikal has always released music with regularity, but something about the scope and tone of his work since 2022’s collaborative project, Crossroads, has hinted at a new lease of life for the perceptive MC. Where Crossroads was a two-act excoriation of critics, haters and opps, SOCIETY, released later in the same year, arrived just in time to inspire conversations about what direction modern life in Ghana was taking, across a 10-song set that was both soul-searching and frank. Coming less than a year after SOCIETY, Medikal’s 2023 album, Planning & Plotting, is a return to the prattling soundscape and big-talking energy of previous projects like 2019’s The Plug and 2020’s The Truth. Ominous snares, serpentine basslines and hard-hitting percussion set the stage for the rapper to effortlessly speak about his financial largesse, women and life at the top of his chosen trade—as he does effortlessly on “Big Man Tin” and “Convo”. Across 14 songs, the rapper makes it a point to be appreciative of his journey and the strides he’s made, tapping fellow Ghanaian MC Sarkodie for a chest-thumping collab on “We Made It”, while Nigerian singer Mayorkun contributes a stellar chorus on “Balenciaga”. For all the themes of celebration that populate Planning & Plotting, Medikal is not one to take his eyes entirely off the game. “When you lot sleep, I’m on the road,” he leerily spits on the drill-inspired “Cartel”. The tensions of his journey and success collide on “Hope”, a hustler’s anthem where the rapper (born Samuel Adu Frimpong) bigs up dreamers looking to escape torrid conditions. “Provider”, meanwhile, is a highlife-adjacent song about enjoying life as it comes and stepping up to one’s responsibilities.