pitchfork.com
Dav1d: “Log1c”
Dav1d’s SoundCloud page is like his journal. There the UK rapper has a bottomless well of short, melodic joints that sound like he’s just using buzzing, New Jazz-lite beats to get shit off his chest. Even when what he’s saying is not that deep, he always delivers it like he really means it. Take “Log1c.” On top of bugged out 808s and hi-hats that chirp like crickets in the night, Dav1d sounds like if he didn’t get these words out he might spontaneously combust. What’s eating at hi…
2 months ago
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Pitchfork writer Alphonse Pierre’s rap column covers songs, mixtapes, albums, Instagram freestyles, memes, weird tweets, fashion trends—and anything else that catches his attention. D.C. rapper KP Skywalka’s ferocious love songs come with their own jagged bounce
The DMV’s street rap scenes are known for churning out an endless run of hard, anarchic pulse-racers. Music that bleeds with the apocalyptic collisions of bounce beat-era go-go and the lyrical belligerence of drill. Music that, if crank…
2 months ago
pitchfork.com
Gabe ’Nandez: “Origami”
About a month ago, at underground hip-hop luminary Ka’s pop-up sale in the Lower East Side, I spotted Gabe ’Nandez walking out with an armful of records and gear—like a kid leaving Game Stop on their birthday. Makes sense given that Gabe’s katana-sharp pen takes inspiration from the Brooklyn MC’s writing without ever feeling like swagger jacking. Just check his recently released deluxe edition of this year’s suffocating H.T.III: It overflows with killer moments of self-in…
2 months ago
pitchfork.com
MarijuanaXO and Joe Pablo: “Screenshot”
After spreading their wings with solo mixtapes and handing out guest features to damn near every rapper in Milwaukee, MarijuanaXO and Joe Pablo get back to their sweet spot as a duo. XO’s weathered voice just sounds so much more urgent next to Pablo’s husky melodies and vice versa on their third joint mixtape 30 Mil No Deal. The pair have a head-in-the-clouds aura to their raps, especially on “Screenshots” where they sound like they’re on the porch at the…
2 months ago
pitchfork.com
Ill Kalil: “Faith”
Ill Kalil’s Niggas Need Money came into my life at exactly right the time. I had just spent way too much bread at the auto repair shop when I stumbled upon the Georgia rapper’s new album while scrolling through my SoundCloud feed. It’s entirely self-produced, and the weightless soul loops and near spoken-word raps will stand out to anyone who has Mutant Academy’s Bandcamp page bookmarked. It’s real everyman rapping; lots of real-life concerns are on his mind. On “Faith,” Kalil…
3 months ago
pitchfork.com
Pitchfork writer Alphonse Pierre’s rap column covers songs, mixtapes, albums, Instagram freestyles, memes, weird tweets, fashion trends—and anything else that catches his attention. Rap history is constantly slipping away online
Rap eras come and go like denim trends. Sometimes you think back to a moment in time that felt like an eternity only to realize it was only a few years, maybe even a few months. For rap fans, one of the most fulfilling parts about spending an afternoon submerged in, say…
3 months ago
pitchfork.com
Pitchfork writer Alphonse Pierre’s rap column covers songs, mixtapes, albums, Instagram freestyles, memes, weird tweets, fashion trends—and anything else that catches his attention. Rap history is constantly slipping away online
Rap eras come and go like denim trends. Sometimes you think back to a moment in time that felt like an eternity only to realize it was only a few years, maybe even a few months. For rap fans, one of the most fulfilling parts about spending an afternoon submerged in, say…
3 months ago
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3 months ago
pitchfork.com
YT: “The One (Just Got My Degree)”
YT is a London rapper whose music is nostalgic for late 2000s to early 2010s Cali’s jerk era. His Kesha-sampling joy ride “100,000” isn’t far off from Pink Dollaz’s 2010 regional anthem “I’m Tasty,” and quite a few tracks on his new mixtape #STILLSWAGGIN could have easily been songs on Young Sam’s Jerkin’ Can’t Die. The tape’s intro “The One (Just Got My Degree)” is a highlight, and like other artists who have been updating jerk (see: Xaviersobased and Yhapojj)…
3 months ago
pitchfork.com
JT and Yung Miami strive to regain their spot as the dirtiest, most provocative hitmakers in rap.
3 months ago
pitchfork.com
SheedTs & G Herbo: “Remember”
Philly rapper SheedTs is hard to define. I suppose you could say he makes melodic pain rap, but then again, his songs are usually only half sung and not exactly wounded, just a little sad. Take the moody “Remember.” SheedTs’ delivery is raw and shapeshifting over a gloomy vocal sample and looped piano riff. What comes to mind is Juice WRLD channeling the sensitive side of Future while nodding to the rhythms of drill. You get a hint of the lionhearted raps of Meek ev…
3 months ago
