Jonah Bromwich prefers the Arsenio Hall Show.
Maybe it’s me, but rap’s gotten really funny again. Despite Eminem transforming into the most stoic dude ever to drop a sixteen, plenty of groups have emerged to take the mantle of hip hop class clown. Whether it’s the intentional comedians like Lonely Island and Das Racist or unintentional ones like Rozay, the rejuvenation of rap for pure comedy’s sake is a welcomed development.
Enter BEeff. No, there’s no conflict between Weird Al and Jim Jones, though that would make for a pretty excellent music video. BEeff stands for Bertran, Evan and every fucking female, a group comprised of two guys out of West L.A. who make goofy little rap songs that, if you’re in a summery mood, are a hell of a lot more fun to listen to than all the lyrical pissing contests coming out of Detroit right now.
Their new EP, David, ostensibly a tribute to David Letterman, is one of the funnier tapes in recent memory, brimming with raps about fucking your bitch, fucking each other’s bitches and fucking each other’s moms. The intro track makes fun of Jay Leno in classic Dave style, and then we’re off. On songs with names like “Spinach,” “Homeless,” and “Filetionship” we gather various facts about Bertran and Evan. Their swag is looney toonish. They’re the dudes in the party with the hard-ons. Other dudes are getting with their girls but they don’t care because they’re fucking rich. And, on the funniest part of the record by far, a skit which seems to be going nowhere turns into a classic battle as Bertran and Evan shriek insults at each other in the rap version of the coolest tenth graders at your high school clowning each other for a couple of minutes.
Sure, it’s juvenile and possibly misogynistic and even homophobic and vaguely anti-Semitic at a few points. But, like Lil B and Flower Tucci (check their Facebook page), Beeff aren’t afraid to test their limits. They also have impeccable taste in beats, and the kind of lazy-yet-solid flows that could eventually develop into Curren$y-style pocket prowess. And an EP of two teenagers cracking jokes and sarcastically, self-consciously bragging has rarely been this hilarious.
Download:
ZIP: BeEFF – David EP
