Max Bell is at the Roracle flickin’ da wrist
Long Beach back. Babies conceived to Nate Dogg hooks are in the booth. It was inevitable, but there was no guarantee the music would be this good. Vince Staples and Boogie are practically unimpeachable; Joey Fatts continues to improve. Huey Briss and Seafood Sam, collectively known as Rules Follow Us, are next in what promises to be long list of the LBC’s most promising.
“Tibetan Silk” is the first single/video from their forthcoming Rules Follow Us Volume 1 EP. Production credit goes to the duo as much as it does Crystal Antlers (Innovative Leisure) frontman Jonny Bell. After Briss and Sam toyed with instruments in Bell’s studio, he built the beat from their booms, baps, and guitar stabs. Think License to Ill Rick Rubin meets Blakroc, and then imagine the best possible iteration of that convergence. It is dirty and damaging minimalism, a loop that was never meant to be but is. The drums crack concrete; the grinding guitar frays nerve endings.
As far as rapping ability, the group is above par for their age bracket, effortlessly stacking syllables and similes. Their delivery is more OF than DPG; but their nihilism is that of Daz and Kurupt, not corrupt youth. Briss says casket, Sam says coffin. The only difference is the drugs, the indo smoke traded for tabs of acid.
In the video, Briss and Sam stomp through an abandoned LBC shopping center like it’s home, like they assisted in the demolition. To hear recorded evidence of their territorial pride, you have to wait until the end, for a primal scream the doubles as a formal announcement and a fierce battle cry.
