Partners In Crime

Partners In Crime is a collaborative studio album by American rappers CusaX and Embis. It was released through Roll With It and Yeo Records on May 26th, 2023, near the 2 year anniversary of their friendship. It was supported by one single, War which was released in January of 2023. It features production from Embis and CusaX themselves as well as guest appearances from Matthew The Artist. Cersia, 44RON, and ChampyG.
== Concept ==
Beginning with the release of CusaX's debut album Violent Poetry, a multi-album storyline developed over the course multiple releases. It documents a fictional caricature of CusaX and Embis as criminals, who led lives of violence and murder using their rap skills as weapons against their victims. It was revealed to the public in the outro of Murder Scene's Expanded Edition with the self-titled track Partners In Crime. It ends with the start of a skit that seamlessly transitions into the album, serving as the true intro to the record. Including the song in the main tracklist achieves a total of 15 tracks. 
Partners In Crime would serve as the next chapter in the story. The track lyrics and skits reveal information about the characters and plot. The intro skit of the album appears to show Embis and CusaX on the run from the scene of a crime: 
When Embis starts the engine, the radio turns on and a news station starts playing information about CusaX. The radio reveals CusaX is currently wanted for murders commited during Violent Poetry era, confirming that's when the story officially starts. The skit takes place on March 18th, 2022 meaning the album tracks chronlogically take take place in the 7 day week leading up to March 25th, and that a premediated murder is planned for this date. 
After 13 more tracks, Cusa and Embis' fates were finally revealed in the outro track with the same name, March 25th: Embis seemingly takes his own life with a firearm CusaX runs out of gas in the middle of a police chase, which was implied to have led to his arrest. This is all but confirmed by the mugshot and letter in the cover art. 
The promotional material and album art also reveals more information. The full letter in the art can be seen in promo material posted on socials. It reads: Aditonally, the cover shows old pictures of Embis' from 2018 on his police file, showing that he has been arrested before. The two images attached with a paper clip depict Embis with a firearm, seemingly a revolver, inside of a store or bank. These were revealed in full quality on Embis' social media and are both dated March 25th, 2022. The caption for the post is encrypted in base64, but when decoded, it reads: 
[T-Mobile™ US: Message logs provided in accordance with authorities on March 27th, 2022]
ID: 672945195 - 1-707-627-9149 OUTGOING to 1-707-784-1457 INCOMING - 8:34 PM - 03/25/2022: New burner. Where the fuck are you? I don't even know if you're still a free man, if you got caught or if you're even alive. I'm stashing your car at [REDACTED] if you can even get there in time by foot.
ID: 947465174 - 1-707-627-9149 OUTGOING to 1-707-784-1457 INCOMING - 8:38 PM - 03/25/2022: Hello?
ID: 174861428 - 1-707-627-9149 OUTGOING to 1-707-784-1457 INCOMING - 8:45 PM - 03/25/2022: They're on my trail. It's been a good run my friend, but I can't go to jail. Goodbye.
[End of log]
 
These logs seem to show messages sent by Embis to Cusa on March 25th. Both phone numbers have the 707 area code which confirms the story takes place somewhere in Northwestern California, with the story concluding around 9pm. These messages are also referenced on the song March 25th with the lyrics: The track Promised Land tells a story of two souls waiting for final judgement from a higher being in the afterlife. Though the similarties are striking, it has been documented that this does not contribute to the main story arc of the album. The YouTube visualizer for the song is also tinted blue as opposed to orange like the rest of the album. This was to potray the seperation of the stories and perhaps even open up the possibility of a continuation down the road.
On the one year anniversary of Partners In Crime, CusaX and Embis both posted cryptic messages on their social media captioned with "What's next?". An image was also attached, depicting the full uncropped letter seen on the cover art with the line "I'll be seeing you, but I doubt it will be in this life" highlighted in yello. The photo also shows a 1 terabyte hardrive and a CD inside of a plastic bag, presumably collected as evidence in the case against them.