Song You Need: Tisakorean snaps back on “uHhH HuH.mp3”

The FADER’s “Songs You Need” are the tracks we can’t stop playing. Check back every day for new music and follow along on our Spotify playlist.

Tisakorean treats nostalgia with a horologist’s attention to detail, each element interlocking with and boosting the effect of the next to create a deceptively simple whole. He has an all-encompassing love of snap music, the subgenre of rap that sprouted up from Bankhead, Atlanta at the turn of the millennium — all springy synths, sparse beats, and addictive dance moves that required little more than a few elaborate shimmies. But it’s not just the sound of D4L and Soulja Boy that Tisa wants to capture on his new tape, Let Me Update My Status; it’s the entire time. At a recent concert, his background visuals were simply his name in the Papyrus font against a blue screen, recalling the intros of countless old school “Crank Dat” dance videos on YouTube. Undeniable fun is always a good thing, especially in the increasingly stuffy arena of rap fandom.

As fun as it is to watch Tisa dancing like he’s dressed for an NBA draft after-party from 20 years ago, it wouldn’t be much without the music behind it. The new tape’s standout track “uHhH HuH.mp3” is just as fun as Tisa himself: the beat’s lead melody sounds like the kind of heat you’d stumble across while fooling around with the dumbest patches on your synth. It’s the silliest element in a song by an artist who calls himself “mr.siLLLyfLow,” though here the jokes are configured to match the game he spits at Sunny Galactial, the song’s featured rapper and a sultry presence with a charged energy. “uHhH HuH.mp3” may prompt one or two memories, but it’s built with a passion and care that makes it not just transportation or mere channeling, but a continuation.