Rap Blog is a weekly showcase of a standout rap song.
My first encounter with Baby Osama was hearing her rap over a Jersey club flip of “Over My Dead Body.” When I interviewed the Bronx rapper last summer, she told me she had never heard the Drake song before, and in fact thought the sample had come from an anime. This unforced nonchalance comes through on her melodic flows, which swerve and swoop gracefully over all sorts of beats, even when Baby O is feeling lovelorn and worn down.
She’s in good spirits on the breezy “Pacer Test,” even if “these n****s be hatin’ though, patiently waiting babe.” Baby Osama has said she tries to emulate instruments with her vocals, and here her AutoTune croon mirrors the rushing strings in the beat, skating over a cracking snare and a fog of synths. “Just watch how I run up a bag, just watch how I run it uhh uhhhh like a Pacer babe.” Later she says, “Yeah I know I’mma fuckin’ get it, yeah I’mma G.O.A.T.,” then immediately repeats herself in case you got distracted: “Yeah I’m know I’mma fuckin’ get it yeah I’mma fuckin’ G.O.A.T.” In the wonderfully edited music video, she’s rocking a pair of shorts with reflective panels she made herself and cradling her dog like a newborn. My only complaint is that this plush 90-second song ends so fast I immediately want to loop it back — it’s like trying to have just a single potato chip.