About a year ago, I stumbled across Nevelle Viracocha’s “Double Up” video in one of those late night stoned fugue states, where one YouTube clip leads into the next until eventually you’re watching Cam’ron count stacks while freestyling on Rap City for the 7521st time. If the surgeon general actually gave a fuck about America’s mental health, that video would be required for daily viewing, but instead we get redundant warnings against the perils of tobacco. It’s a dirty world.
As someone who has spent the larger part of the last decade idly high and searching for songs to spark my interest, you start to develop a sixth sense about artists — whether it’s a gift for melody, a particularly elastic cadence, or even the slightly lunatic stare that they offer the camera. Viracocha was one of those rappers that snapped you out of your sloth to be like, “who the fuck is this dude.”
There was very little information available. Only a few songs. All I had to go by was the “Double Up” video and my gut instinct that this reminds me of Travis Scott if Travis Scott actually had a ton of original talent and wasn’t the Swag Noseraftu that he is. A potential star quality that you can’t fake, and a rap style that seemed to have birthed out of a long lost classic verse on Jay’s “Monster.” There are creative debts owed to Triple Six, your favorite country rappers, and maybe Thug and Rae Sremmurd too.
Viracocha was born in North Carolina, but claims a small town in Alabama as his hometown. He grew up in Germany and South Korea too, claiming to find his rap style and sound while living there. I don’t know exactly what that means specifically, but I hope it doesn’t mean there will be Keith Ape collabos on the horizon. We’re premiering Nevelle’s Eff/Pee/
