Max Bell is liable to flip like things that flip.
Bone Thugs will always be relevant. Imitated yet forever inimitable. But part of their success stems from the fact that their biggest hits dealt with the universally imminent — before the crossroads comes the first of the month. “Wide Open”, the best song from South Carolina duo Roc & Yella, takes its cues from the trap narrative that often goes hand in hand with the latter.
Because rappers have no patience and no concern for continuity, the song dropped at the end of March. Nobody noticed. They did the same thing again for the music video, which was released three days before Thanksgiving. It now has over 12,000 views with what appears to be little to no assistance from the PR machine. Clearly, the importance of release dates remains subjective.
Produced by TrapALot Muzik, whose name sounds like it was pulled from a Brick Squad name generator, the beat is stock trap fare, complete with Zaytoven esque strings and sub-rattling low end. But some forms don’t need to be reinvented, just well done, slightly reworked. Thus, TrapALot succeeds.
Roc & Yella don’t add anything new to the trap house narrative, but they’re markedly polished rappers with enough élan to make all boasts about pot whipping proficiency believable. They also have a few lines that hint at their potential as writers (e.g. “It’s the first of the month, my trap blowing / roman candle”).
More than anything, “Wide Open” succeeds because of its undeniably potent hook. Backed by booming bass, they compress the simple tenets of their business model to just a few lines. It’s hard to argue with that kind of economy.
Apart from Young Jeezy, few notable rappers hail from South Carolina. So while Roc & Yella aren’t the first rappers from the Palmetto state, there’s the possibility that they have next up. There are also rumors that the ineffable DJ Burn One has provided his cosign. Whether or not that’s true, “Wide Open”, for lack of better words, goes.
