It took Brandon Callender 11 months to make it through Season 1 of True Detective, but it was worth it.
Caal Vo ā āHOMESICKā
āShe just wanna live the life Iām living for the thrillāI aināt even been back home for a year,ā Caal Vo dejectedly opens āHOMESICK.ā Thereās little excitement in his voice as he talks about his fast-paced lifestyle over the warm electronic hums. EERA and EvilGianeās production moderates Caal Voās ennui and world weariness, shrouding the song in a nostalgic haze that adds color to the grayness of his voice. āI canāt even feel, nah, forreal/Man, Iām busting off this molly but I donāt even fuck with pills,ā he sighs. āHOMESICKā is full of bittersweet reflections, but it goes down as easily as a spoonful of honey.
Yung Kayo ā ācause + effectā
Yung Kayo feels like heās secretly signed to Playboi Cartiās OPIUM, rather than Young Thugās YSL. Art Dealerās brain-vaporizing synths make ācause + effectā feel like a night in a cybernetic club where robots have all but replaced humans. āPromethazine and the X/We call āem the cause and effect,ā Kayo chants. With his go-to producer Warpstr, Kayoās built himself up on a foundation of electronic production: rapping over soothing lullabies and frenzied rage fests that are more in-line with whatās going on on SoundCloud than anything else. Continuing to get weirder and weirder with Warpstr instead of chasing hits has made Kayo one of the only interesting things about current-day YSL.
Bobby 6ix ā āGuide My Steps Oh Lordā
Every few weeks I go on YouTube to catch up on singles from Bobby 6ix. Itās easy to miss a string of singles from him and the rest of the Montego Bay-based 6ix collective. āGuide My Steps Oh Lordā is more of a prayer than it is a song. The soothing voices of the choir singing back-up on the hook relieves the songās tension as he asks God for protection. āMi know uno see the shine, but uno nah know the fight,ā he soberly raps. The close-ups of his face reveal so much hidden pain. Two weeks from now, thereāll probably be another Bobby 6ix loosie just as worthy of your attention.
BIGMUTHA feat. ZelooperZ ā āWRIST.ā
BIGMUTHA (fka bbymutha) and ZelooperZ take us back to the heyday of tall tees and ill-fitting denim on āWrist.ā ZelooperZ raps about seeing a girl so bad that he lost his voice while BIGMUTHA lays down one of her most irresistible hooks. āHe say he donāt love them hoes like he donāt know he the hoes/He gonna try to pay the bills and he gonā buy me some clothes,ā she raps over the beat that ping pongs from ear to ear. If you listen to it for long enough, a pair of Girbauds just might appear in your closet.
d0llywood1 ā āi almost puked at the mallā
Iām convinced that dltzk could produce whatever kind of music they set their mind to. From the fragile chiptune purrs of Teen Week to the internet melting, sample-heavy breakbeat chaos of dariacore, the digicore producer continues to push themselvesāas well as the rest of the communityāinto new directions. āi almost puked at the mall,ā d0llywood1ās latest single, is 2 minutes of anxiety-inducing terror. In the first half of the song, dltzkās brooding production collapses in on itself, boxing in dollyās vocals. She breaks free in the songās back half, swapping to an eerie sing-song to talk tough. āAnd I feel like Playboi Carti, bitch, I got a brand new tank/If he talkinā all that shit, Imma hit āem with that shank,ā she raps. d0llywood1 and dltzk are pure magic together.