Brandon Callender is googling knx and madlib samples to play while he grills so his mom thinks he knows old music.
Rich Homie Quan â âTo Be Worriedâ
If you were ever trying to fish for engagement on Twitter, a âRich Homie Quan was ahead of his timeâ tweet should be high on your list of drafts. Itâs difficult to pin down why exactly, but most of the time after seeing those tweets Iâm left feeling kind of annoyed. Those tweets arenât meant to neg artists, but they just donât feel as appreciative as they should since oftentimes those artists are still actively working, theyâve just been pushed into the margins and largely ignored. History easily gets muddy with rapâeven when researching artists and movements that were documented on blogs less than ten years ago, thereâs countless amounts of dead links and redirects to no longer available YouTube & MediaFire pages.
In a genre like rap, where everyone insists that theyâre a 1-of-1 artist and that their music certainly wasnât influenced by outside forces. If given the chance to, the longest-lasting artists get the chance to rewrite history to their liking, stamping their name on anything theyâve ever been a part of and any wave theyâve rode on their way to superstardom. Itâs easier to notice this in interviews than anywhere else; in an artistâs earliest interviews they wonât shy away from citing their real influences and the music that informs their view of the art, but as you catch them later on, that kind of information is guarded under lock-and-key, as if admitting to liking another contemporary artistâs music will make them less interesting.
Quan isnât an artist thatâs been forgotten aboutâpeople ask where heâs at all the timeâbut people like him have widespread influence on the sound of rap today that their once unique styles are just part of every rapperâs toolkit. None of that is particularly good or badâI think the song is fine and I want to hear what Quan has going on right now. When I first heard âTo Be Worried,â I sat there thinking, âThis just sounds like everything else right now.â But when Harley posted it in last weekâs Rap-Up, I felt like I had to give it another shot. When he raps, âComing back off in this bitch, walked in like I left somethinâ/I donât show that bitch attention, treat her like a stepson/You gonâ see these footprints, get your bitch ass stepped on,â itâs easy to hear it in Lil Babyâs voice. The second verse could get slotted into any Roddy Ricch song and I wouldnât know the difference. Itâs heartwarming to see guys like Rich Homie Quan be able to still make their style work today, but Iâm just left wondering whoâs been forgotten about.
Glockboyz Teejaee & The Godfather â âAfter Laughter (feat. RTB MB)â
The Hornets starting their off-season means that Miles Bridges can get back to rapping circles around every other NBA player to ever pick up the mic under his pseudonym RTB MB. (Until Anthony Edwardsâ collab mixtape with Lil Baby comes out, of course.) Wendy Reneâs âAfter Laughterâ has squeezed for every last bit of juice it has and it needs to be retired immediately, but thankfully they donât even try to make that flip the songâs focus. These kinds of Michigan cuts always tend to feel like everyone involved was competing to see who could think of a follow-up first before rushing in the booth to punch in their one line. âItâs MB, Iâm with your BM, I call that bar flipping,â MB raps. Teejaee and The Godfather go back to back about the NBA players theyâre most like while MB plays a supporting role. Itâll be a long time before Miles Bridges has the best verse when heâs rapping alongside Teejaee and Nuk (if he ever does), but itâs fun enough seeing him go back and forth with them on wax.
OTR Chaz â âBulletproof Loveâ
OTR Chaz walks around with a heavy heart. The Baltimore rapper will open up to anyone whoâll hear out his high-pitched wails. âI got all these problems and this love ainât help me with none,â he croons. âTell me what you need, wipe your tears, I canât see them run.â Itâs interesting how the Calboy/Lil Tjay vein of melodic rap has grown legs and kept me interested for so longâevery few months I end up listening to someone from a new city trying their hand at the biographical style with the same warbly tone in a different accent.
Tae Dawg â âBe a Foolâ
Tae Dawg is one of the only rappers in the DMV that can match Lil Grayâs eclectic ear for beats. The Mannyveli and Sparkheem-produced âBe a Foolâ sounds like a romantic walk on the beach, even when he sings about his chopper thatâll knock you off your feet, its just as dreamy as when he sings about how foolish it is to leave your girl around him. âIâm in love with the drank, bitch I pour all kinds/But you canât get a line, the shit all mines,â he sings. âBe a Foolâ is Tae Dawg at most tranquil, daydreaming about all the things that make him happy.
Big Jade â âJade Winsâ
Big Jade will eat on any beat you put her on. On Pressure, her latest mixtape, she goes steamrolls through David Banner flips as well as BeatKing and DJ Choseâs club-ready production. When that chilling âJade Winsâ gets whispered into your ear and she follows it with a laugh, itâs obvious that the Beaumont, Texas, rapper isnât here to play around. âGotta compete with the old me/Not with these bitches thatâs what my little brother just told me,â she snaps over the tense strings. There arenât a lot of people whose confidence comes through as easily as Big Jadeâs.