New Rap Music
Metro Zu – “Sell Ma Hoe“
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from MINK RUG (Mixtape, 2012)
Metro Zu is a Miami crew that is loosely affiliated with SpaceGhostPurrp, or at least have a song with him. They are hyper-productive, their videos look like this and their songs sound different from other rap songs and they sample the Animal Collectors all of which inevitably adds up to them being the rappers that all of the weird just discovered rap through Clams Casino avant bloggers get really excited about in the near future. Which is perfectly fine. The Zu certainly wouldn’t be their worst choice. Mink Rug has some very high points, the highest of which is “Sell Ma Hoe.” It owes a lot to Lil B, which is to be expected at this point with young fringy experimental underground rappers, but the thing that separates it from most other young fringy experimental underground rap is how hook driven it is. Yes it’s wonderful being yourself and hilarious and weird and spontaneous and lo-fi but none of that has any value if you aren’t actually writing songs that are likable. B’s success was as much about his hook writing ability as it was his personality. “Sell Ma Hoe” is simple enough but it sticks to the inside of your brain, with its “second things first” nonsense and the sheer amount of conviction that’s put into the performance. You can imagine the kid pulling his arms into his chest as he croons, like some sort of demented preacher/pimp hybrid. (Prod. by Mr. B the Poshtronaut)
Torch f/ Meek Mill, Wale, Gunplay, Stalley & Young Breed – “Slow Down“
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from UFO 2 (Coming Soon)
There should be a law in hip hop in which any and every rapper, regardless of house or creed, is required to jump on some old Ultimate Breaks And Beats shit once a year. It should be like tithing or a operational exam. Here all of MMG – minus the Bawse who could only phone in some ad-libs from WingStop – hits EPMD’s “Rampage” (or by extension Lowell Fulson’s “Tramp“) running. I can’t tell who of Triple C’s is rapping where in this lineup, because all of these guys went from sounding like Jeezy to sounding like Chubb Rock for this very special occasion, but they all come off. Meek is in his close-to-Peedi mode, which is always welcome while Wale probably has the weakest verse here, which is ironic considering he’s the only one of these guys corny enough to kick the words “one time for hip hop” in 2012. Show us, don’t tell us, Wale.
Rich Kidz f/ Waka Flocka – “My Life“
from Everybody Eat Bread (Mixtape, 2012)
Happy rap music! This is a straight up joyous song and video. Waka in the booth, cheesing with a loaded pistol talking about “I’m killing ‘em in Oregon!” It’s not completely discernible but I’m pretty sure that Skool Boy ends his opening verse with “Finally I’m not a teen!” which, if that is what he is saying, adds an extra dimension to the theme. Basically it’s a no mom I’m all grown up I can do what I want song. (Prod. by London On Da Track)
Alley Boy – “Intro“
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Alley Boy – “Cops On The Block“
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from Nigganati (Mixtape, 2012)
I haven’t seen anybody talk about this, because nobody talks about anything really anymore, but it was a pleasant surprise to hear Atlanta’s hardhead-in-residence Alley Boy open his latest tape with Kathleen Cleaver and Malcolm X vocal samples and then go into a winded (if not the most refined or articulate) political diatribe about conspiratorial discrimination and reading the Panthers on the intro. Not to go all hooray for political rap, it’s better than all of the other rap liberal on you guys (and I know Jeezy did it first) but yeah as someone who learned a lot as a kid from seeking names like these out in libraries at the behest of KRS and Wise Intelligent, I do love the possibility, however slight, of some little would-be goon being inspired to do the same thing today. When was the last time a significant so-called “conscious rapper” has even invoked the Panthers? Mos Def is out there rapping about his pants and yodeling or whatever the hell it is that he does. Alley’s “Cops On The Block” isn’t quite as focused in its rebellion or message but it is on that blind fuck the police tip and what it lacks in articulation it makes up for with sheer aggression. Waka to the remix please. (Prod. by Lil Neal, Bei Maejor)
Lil B – “Pussy On My Face (Based Freestyle)“
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One of the (many) reasons that Lil B’s catalog has proved so divisive is that so much of it isn’t exactly meant to be consumed like more traditionally lyrically lyrical rap. He’s as concerned with creating a landscape of sound and an overarching vibe as he is with just offering words that say something. (This approach isn’t unique to B, obviously. Quite a few rappers take it instinctively and they too are typically dismissed as insufficiently lyrical or idiots by virgins who listen to Canibus.) This is something that he’d expressed explicitly – in the “Basedworld 1989” video notes – “let Lil Bs Voice Become one with the beat for you.” And if you consume it with that in mind, it becomes a lot easier to look past his obvious flaws as a rapper. So much of his work from his early Youtube period just *sounds* so fascinating as a pile up of timbres. And to a point, too. The best of it blew out the then current trap rap sensibility, burying it in shards of layer vocal tracks and overblown ad-libs. His biggest hits were just tripped out kaleidoscopic takes on the OJ The Juiceman aesthetic. I think that sort of expansion is what has been missing from a lot of his recent output. He more or less returned to just being a rapper who raps in a relatively straightforward manner. Which is cool, he’s definitely made some great songs with this approach – “Banga Luv” and “Februrarys Confessions” being the most recent examples – but the other stuff is just so much more immersive.
Released a few weeks ago (and then quickly deleted) “Pussy On My Face” isn’t just B’s long awaited return to the Based Freestyle methodology, it’s also the first song in some time where he seems to be consciously warping current rap trends into something more psychedelic, bending the autotune choke approach that has been all the rage in the Atlanta back around and on top of itself. It basically sounds like four Future songs playing simultaneously. Which might not be your thing, especially if you’re not a fan of a standalone Future song. Or of using music as a substitute for/complement to hallucinogenic drugs. But it’s fucking my thing so I’m going to post it here and then listen to it a thousand times in a row until my cabbage turns to cole slaw and my pupils drip lemon juice. Based God! (Prod. by The Cheff)
Young Thug – “Haiti Slang“
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from I Came From Nothing 2 (Mixtape, 2012)
Then again, maybe B’s take isn’t that far left of where Atlanta’s actual post-swag mutant auto tune movement is standing at the moment. The oh so originally named Young Thug‘s “Haiti Slang” is also deeply indebted to the Future sound and every bit as wasted as “Pussy,” but with none of the pretense. It’s rap music to drown by peacefully. It’s the type of record you can wear like a coffin. It’s another analogy that I’m unable to think of at the moment because I’m too engrossed in this damn song. Plus it brings back that old izzle pizzle gibberish rap. I guess the era of Snoop and Snoop-inspired abuse is finally far enough behind us that it no longer seems tizzacky. (See also: Jose Guapo & Travis Porter’s recent “Guaponese“)
Philthy Rich f/ DB Tha General & Lil Mikey – “Fonk”
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Philthy Rich f/ 2 Chainz – “True Religion Shawty“
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from True Religion Shawty (Mixtape, 2012)
Like anyone else who isn’t David Drake or a 17 year old weed dealer from Modesto, I lack the attention span to keep up with the day-to-day thousand release sprawl of the Livewire camp. But then I hear songs like these and I feel guilty about that. “Fonk” in particular jams, with its bounced out mobb music revivalist beat and DB DBing all over it. Of course it would be nice if the track didn’t end so abruptly, but maybe we will see an unmixed version one day. Probably not.
Juvenile – “Mardi Gras“
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Okay, look. It’s Juvenile doing a Rick Ross impersonation about six months too late and that is a little sad. But at the same time Juve managed to do a slightly better Rick Ross than Rick Ross usually does. Surely that counts for something? (via DGB)
Riff Raff & Action Bronson – “Bird On A Wire” (Vimeo, 2012)
I don’t even know what to make of this or where to begin. This is what it sounds like when doves cry. I do like how Action Bronson drags his fake Ghostface flow into a fake Drake flow. And also the part when Riff Raff combs his hair so hard that it eventually looks like Skrillex hair. Anyway, Harry Fraud is an immense talent, if you hadn’t noticed.
Tumblin' Erb
February 10th, 2012 at 5:51 pm
why juvie babie? why u doin that? also, action spinelli bronsonelli with two j’s very walrus tusky
February 10th, 2012 at 6:18 pm
nice to see “Cops On The Block” get some love. Definitely my favorite song on Nigganati.
February 10th, 2012 at 6:26 pm
I’m fully on board with young thug. The gibberish comparison that occurred to me was gucci’s “ima star.” The same banger x intoxicated/slang/dialect/nonsense. The other track off the tape i really fuck with is “keep in touch.” I think the unsung influence on this stuff and future is contemporary reggae sounds.
Also, can’t believe no one has made a “white boy mob” joke about that riff raff /a.b. / dirt nasty / dante / harry fraud club
February 10th, 2012 at 6:26 pm
Metro Zu are at least more interesting than the Raiders in the fact that they enjoy making jokes about their social class, and songs about jogging as opposed to 90′s fetishism. Nobody made that argument, I’m just saying.
Also, Riff Raff & Bronson is a deadly combination of dudes who are like those hollow chocolate rabbits you get on Easter that make you vomit hours later. Except it’s white chocolate.
February 10th, 2012 at 6:38 pm
Dantes always in some kind of WBM, its a bit worrying.
“I lack the attention span to keep up with the day-to-day thousand release sprawl of the Livewire camp. But then I hear songs like these and I feel guilty about that.”
- Its hard alright
February 10th, 2012 at 6:40 pm
And I wish Philty just picked beats for the other Livewire dudes, hes a right snooze.
February 10th, 2012 at 6:45 pm
I feel like RiFF RaFF totally eats Bronson’s lunch on that track, but neither are anything compared to that beat. I seriously just wanna ride around to the instrumental.
February 10th, 2012 at 6:54 pm
Also, any chance of a Recent Adds post in the near future? I love those and end up getting into more stuff from that than these posts for whatever reason.
February 10th, 2012 at 7:14 pm
Working on one now…
February 10th, 2012 at 8:11 pm
i gotta keepin mind the noz personal prejudices but it still bugs me that half-baked efforts like much of lil b gets a pass while others get dismissed for being half baked. meanwhile there is an implied worship of technique when it comes to Kendrick Lamar and freestyle fellowship and so on.. I am just saying, noz you justifiy having it both ways by always resorting to “personality” as the rap card that trumps all. in the end at least we agree on waka. BOW BOW BOW BAO I am tipsy and will leave it at that. cocaine blunts 4eva
February 10th, 2012 at 8:25 pm
i feel like ppl repping for riff raff over bronson are just choosing sides in some kind of weird ‘i prefer my white dudes making rap music emulate this type of rap rather than this type’ thing b/c neither of them are all that good really
February 10th, 2012 at 8:25 pm
the star of that track is absolutely the beat, which he should have given to french montana
February 10th, 2012 at 8:27 pm
aaaand not to post three times in a row, but the funny thing is i’m not nearly enough of a livewire fanboy to dig into philthy rich cds. that fonk song is ill though
February 10th, 2012 at 8:42 pm
“i gotta keepin mind the noz personal prejudices but it still bugs me that half-baked efforts like much of lil b gets a pass while others get dismissed for being half baked. meanwhile there is an implied worship of technique when it comes to Kendrick Lamar and freestyle fellowship and so on.. I am just saying, noz you justifiy having it both ways by always resorting to “personality” as the rap card that trumps all. ”
Taste is not prejudice. I enjoy different rap songs and artists for a bevy of different reasons, some of them pertaining to personality, some to virtuosity, some a mixture of both these traits, some unrelated to either. (You might’ve noticed this if you’ve ever read anything I’ve written anywhere.) Generally I just want to hear them excel or at least not suck in whatever lane it is they’ve chosen. Some mornings I drink orange juice and others I drink apple juice but if either is sour and rotten I’m gonna spit that shit out.
“i feel like ppl repping for riff raff over bronson are just choosing sides in some kind of weird ‘i prefer my white dudes making rap music emulate this type of rap rather than this type’ thing b/c neither of them are all that good really”
Or more simply – “I prefer this type of rap.” Though fwiw I think Riff Raff is at an advantage given that the style he specializes in hasn’t often been mined nostalgically until recently. Bronson has two decades of fake Wu-Tanging to overcome.
Their senses of humor seem to differ dramatically too and Bronson has never made me laugh as hard as Riff did when he said “posterize your ass like Jonathan Bender.”
February 10th, 2012 at 9:00 pm
you’re right to rephrase my ‘emulating rap’ thing although i think when they posse up in a white mob like this it influences the way we think about it
February 10th, 2012 at 9:01 pm
or at least, the way i do
February 10th, 2012 at 9:03 pm
but agreed that riff raff is funnier
February 10th, 2012 at 9:06 pm
Alley Boy joint is on-point in a major way…BASEDGOD is a face melter…Young Thug almost sounds British (at times)…Action/Riff = really? (the good one)…Good post Noz.
February 11th, 2012 at 1:32 am
kendrick drops bobby seale, huey, and fred hampton on hiipower that dudes got a more articulate and but not corney/preachy spirit to him when it comes to that
February 11th, 2012 at 3:21 am
R.I.P. “DAMN SON WHERE’D YA FIND THIS”?? (via that “where you find this” on the alley boy )
February 11th, 2012 at 5:43 am
I think Thomas from 100GrandOnMyWrist should probably take the most credit for doing the dirty work in finding Livewire bangers.
February 11th, 2012 at 2:44 pm
Fair enough, but I find it more personally rewarding to make fun of David.
February 11th, 2012 at 3:08 pm
It’s just an honor to be mentioned
February 11th, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Also, Gunplay does appear on this MMG posse cut. Amazing that he sounds comfortable everywhere and anywhere.
February 11th, 2012 at 4:13 pm
I think the other Triple C just sounds a lot like him?
February 11th, 2012 at 4:14 pm
*one of the others*
February 11th, 2012 at 5:59 pm
how is the rest of the rich kidz tape?
February 11th, 2012 at 10:13 pm
“Mos Def is out there rapping about his pants and yodeling or whatever the hell it is that he does” genuine LOL from this.
Really feeling the posi vibes from that Rich Kidz track and the “I just took PCP and don’t feel right” vibes from that Lil B song.
The two dopest Livewire releases of the past few months are the new Livewire Mafia album and Philthy Rich’s Loyalty B4 Royalty 3 (For the N****s) in my expert opinion.
Great post!
February 12th, 2012 at 6:13 pm
Skooly from rich kidz voice doesn’t seem to get old.
February 13th, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Following Action Bronson on twitter made me stop liking his rap. It’s funny because two months ago he would have been saying he couldn’t make money in rap music because of dudes like Riff Raff, but now he’s “conceding” to making a song with him because he’s given up. Then again rappers are human (but should they act like humans?) and emotions and interests change. I don’t even know what I’m going to eat for dinner tonight. Do you guys know what you’re eating for dinner tonight?
February 13th, 2012 at 2:25 pm
yo noz, you should definitely check out O’Grime too, theyre down in miami and go back with metro zu. they got a new album ‘Pearl Necklace’ dropping tomorrow.
February 13th, 2012 at 3:33 pm
“Do you guys know what you’re eating for dinner tonight?”
A burrito.
February 13th, 2012 at 8:54 pm
“He’s as concerned with creating a landscape of sound and an overarching vibe as he is with just offering words that say something. (This approach isn’t unique to B, obviously. Quite a few rappers take it instinctively and they too are typically dismissed as insufficiently lyrical or idiots by virgins who listen to Canibus.) This is something that he’d expressed explicitly – in the “Basedworld 1989” video notes – “let Lil Bs Voice Become one with the beat for you.””
imo this applies especially to main attrakionz .
February 13th, 2012 at 9:59 pm
I don’t disagree, but imo the MA guys have yet to come anywhere close to the commanding presence or mastery of psyched out multitracking that B has shown on his best songs. I mean listen to “Cooking Dance” or “Pretty Boy (Remix)” on big headphones and then listen to any other rap song ever and get back to me.
February 13th, 2012 at 11:07 pm
They aren’t about presence, really. Or not in the same way. Lil B’s music is mostly very voice-forward, and he shoves his way into the nooks and crannies of your brain. Main Attrakionz are (usually) more atmospheric and shoegaze-y in their vocal approach, blurring into the beats.
In terms of psyched out multitracking, though, MA’s “RIP Nate Dogg” definitely needs to be mentioned. Kind of taking the opposite angle as most MA stuff, vocie-dominant. Got that mantra-like chorus echoing into itself forever.
February 15th, 2012 at 9:46 am
Nobody should listen to O’Grime, ever.
The number one issue with MAz is that because of the constant stream of material, and the less defined ability to make overt hooks, it’s very easy to forget how good their songs can be. The truth is though, they dwell in a very insular place that you have to get into to appreciate. Admittedly, I feel like they do have a tendency to put out material that goes nowhere and is not anywhere near overtly anthemic, but just they’re not as bad as those other crews of non-personas who just sort of find ‘new’ beats and do nothing with them.
February 27th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Hello,
For new music for an artist how can an agency contact you? Email? Twitter?
-Natasha Benjamin
December 12th, 2012 at 4:46 am
Rap is a matter of taste, but some of them can’t flow or bite flows