Art via Evan Solano
Harley Geffner absolutely dominated in the Turkish cooking class, excelling at rolling up the stuffed grape leaves for reasons we shall not say.
Zach Lowe, on Joel Embiid:
Joel Embiid once claimed “I am the game,” to accurately describe his dominance on the court.
It’s an incredible description of someone in complete control. I imagine that this is what Atlanta’s Lil Baby feels like every moment of every day (or at least did circa 2020). In “All On Me,” over a hopeful, but sullen beat, he describes this feeling of owning the world around him. He is the game. He’s been sleeping with this girl, but it’s up to him whether or not he wants to steal her heart. His boys are stuck in the system? No problem, he has a meeting with the president.
This doesn’t mean that problems are solved without struggle. He describes the work he put in to reach this status, his struggles with addiction and the betrayals faced along the way. But in the end, it’s not about the work, it’s not about the money or the power. It’s about aura and confidence.
One of his mentors, Young Thug, described a long time ago how before Lil Baby even started rapping, everyone knew he was going to be a star. He was the young hustler who ran dice games, and walked into every room like he owned the place. When he spoke, people stopped to listen, even at a young age. That swag and energy carries over into his raps and the worldview that comes across when he speaks. When he’s on his game, it feels like watching Alexander the Great leading an army.
With Chicago legend G Herbo, this feeling of control is in his grasp, but it took more intentionality to get there. Where Baby’s instincts were always that of a guy who had it all, Herbo had to work to define what it meant to be the man. He made mistakes and learned lessons along the way. He describes mastering the art of creating distance so he could discern what was real and what was just “bait.”
Herbo explains that he always had it in him, but just had to find the confidence. Now? He’s on par with Baby. He owns the world, and knows it’s his responsibility to keep it intact. You can feel that weight in his voice, his raps, and in what he stands for. He even explicitly says that he and his girl don’t like it when he goes back to Chicago, but he feels like he has to to make sure everyone is doing alright. That’s real leadership.
Hailing from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, 21-year old Ffawty speaks like a man who’s lived many lives. In interviews, he talks in sage aphorisms about life as a storm, or lessons of ancestors living inside you, and none of it sounds particularly trite. He credits Bob Marley for his philosophical musings, and Loe Shimmy for his rapping style. Wrap it all together and you get a sort of spiritual stoicism that lives in his music.
With “Lean On,” the beat acts as a skeletal frame that leaves room for his melodies to exhale. They wander, but stay within the general frame. His voice is soft and warm, and against the backdrop of the cold stone that characterizes the streets of Glasgow, where the video was shot, it sounds almost defiant. He’s trying not to let the external forces of violence, death, and the cold-heartedness of the world impact him on his way to reaching for his goals.
The irony, of course, is that he was molded by these forces, and even though he tries to keep them at arms length, they linger in the timbre of his voice. The weight of survival presses against the serenity he’s trying to manifest. That tension, between peace and pain, between the island sun and the grey of Glasgow is what makes “Lean On,” so quietly beautiful.
One of my favorite things about Arkansas’s Mudbaby Ru is that he has this massive street star energy, but he harnesses it in such a playful way. “OPP IN A CIRCLE” is a masterclass in taunting your enemies, but it’s filtered through this bright, almost whimsical palette.
The beat jingles like a Christmas carol. He raps with a sly grin and a wink about hawking down his enemies like they’re playing tag on the schoolyard. He hums his own rhymes, yells their echoes like he’s ad-libbing over a friend’s freestyle, all while essentially dancing over graves. He goes bowling with a stack of cash in the video, smiling ear to ear, while rapping about how dangerous he and his little buddies are. Essentially, he’s looking at the street violence and saying he’s above it, he’s amused by it, and he’s untouchable. And his flows are so hard, he could make a toddler’s writing sound good.
There is such a boyish charm to this song. Hailing from Milwaukee,Lilqua 50 sings over a sample of The Sundays’ “Summer,” about a summertime fling gone wrong. Similarly to Mudbaby Ru, it’s playful and sing-songy, but there’s no dangerous edge to this one. It’s just plain and simple fun, with the boys singing along in a concrete schoolyard. It genuinely feels like how it felt to be with your friends during summer vacation. It’s nostalgia bottled and played back through cheap speakers. The kind of song that feels like it was already made before Qua started writing it – like he chiseled away at an ancient and universal feeling.
The Stinc Team is in good hands. Day3 is one of the newer members of the LA based crew, hailing from the 60s, and he’s one of the hardest out of the city right now. He and FlocDaMVP trade turns ripping the smooth beat with the repetitive “Mama Ima Criminal,” sample front and center. Their voices are low in the mix, almost buried beneath the loop. They cut through, but it’s misty, like headlights through a thick 3 a.m. fog.
The mix matches the energy, as you can feel this sort of danger lurking beneath the surface with each of rappers’ bars. They’re delivered with a nonchalance that feels both antithetical, and somehow exactly the point of their flexing. Yes, it’s Drakeo-lite, but these guys carry their own swag and are still digging into new territory with subtle flow variations and new creative flexes. It’s Bossa Nova after skits when Day3 celebrates the score.
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