Rap Blog is a weekly showcase of a standout rap song.
If you had told me in 2009 that jerk music was going to be a big deal 15 years later, I would have believed you because I reallyyyy fucked with New Boyz. Still, it’s a little dizzying to contemplate the long-dormant Cali subgenre’s newfound reconfiguration at the hands of NYC-er Xaviersobased, Alabama’s YhapoJJ, and Virginia’s answer to Justin Bieber (Nettspend). The 808s are overdriven, the melodies are wonky, and the snares crack like rifle fire. Basically, this shit knocks hard.
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Enter U.K. rapper YT, whose October tape #STILLSWAGGIN threw jerk drums over iLoveMakonnen-type chords and chopped Top 40 samples with abandon. He’s back this week with a 480p Funky Metro-inspired video for new song “Black & Tan,” featuring fellow Londoner Lancey Foux and an apocalyptic beat by Ambezza (who was behind the boards on “Life is Good,” “Different Day,” “VULTURES,” and a really fire collab album with JMK$ last month).
Everything is on go from the first downbeat. “Why’s this shorty posing like she don’t know who I am?” YT scoffs. Later: “Think I’m flexing but I’m humble man imagine if I bragged.” Not to be outdone, Lancey glides onto the track effortlessly, grinning, “she let me hit it, let me bomb it now she calling me Saddam.” You can practically see his poor accountant struggling to explain withdrawal limits and restrictions over the phone.
They go back and forth, stacking flexes up like international flights on their itineraries. YT is blowing rand in South Africa and converting currencies in Montreal, though you might catch him out in Lagos or Amsterdam. Meanwhile, Lancey is making it bounce in Tennessee and trapping in Paris. At one point, YT enunciates every consonant in JJJJound to delirious effect. It’s like he says on the song — “If you see me then I’m swaggin, not a shadow of a doubt.”
