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.
A genre that prides itself on codes imposed both internally and externally, hip-hop is able to distinguish itself as an art form when rappers own up to the moments where they fall short. “THIRD TIME A CHARM,” a song from Charlotte rapper Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon, shows how even low-stakes personal failings, the kind that leads to good-natured roasts from friends, can be rendered in compelling and deeply human ways.
Over an immediately entrancing sample of Brazilian psychedelia, its notes the temperature of a hot pool on a cold day, Ja Monte embraces a situationship he knows will end in tears. "Third time it's on me, but I must repeat again," Ja-Monte raps on the hook, a wry shrug emanating from his nimble flow, "Here I go with my sneaky link again." This acknowledged flaw is buttressed by knotty verses balancing mindful rhyming schemes with narratives that acknowledge his accomplishments: he's not doing business without a personal driver from LAX, groupies are stalking his IG, and he's brought all his people along with him for the ride. With all that on his resume, he's more than earned a little flexibility.
