Will Schube wrote this wearing paisley.
I met Bobby Raps at a music festival back in October and within two minutes he pulled me off to a quiet corner and began blasting new music from a tinny iPhone speaker. He bobbed his head and rapped along, enthusiasm spilling with every lo-fi boom and bap. Bobby was at the festival supporting his friend Corbin—formerly known as Spooky Black—hopping on stage to perform verses from their excellent collaborative 2015 LP, Couch Potato. It turns out the track Bobby was blaring from his iPhone speakers was the just released “Desensitized,” and the enthusiasm he showed rapping along back in October is amplified to the nth degree on the recorded version. Bobby scream raps over dusty keys, letting his auto tune filters shirk any responsibility to adhere to traditional melodious wanderings. He sings, “Pop a pill and get immortalized,” his voice so loud the 56 Nights esque effects threaten to peak past navigable terrain. But he’s at his at his best when he’s on the edge, teetering between laser focus and maniacal musings.
Bobby has come a long way from his early days as a silly dude from Minnesota with goofy sunglasses, making the move to LA and developing astonishingly quickly as one of the most exciting young rappers around. The faux-Matrix sunglasses have stuck around, though. The actual coldest rapper from Minnesota shows his versatility on the also-just-released single, “Purgatory.” Both “Purgatory” and “Desensitized” (and the even newer “Had 2”) are from his forthcoming Mark, and based off the wild variety between the three tracks, the album is aiming to be a full blown rap event. Mark doesn’t have a release date, but with three new songs out in the world, that day seems imminent. When it does arrive, find some headphones or big speakers. This shit’s too good for an iPhone, even if that’s Bobby Raps’ preferred method of deliver.
