Call Harley Geffner John Cena, because you can’t see him.
Liek Dinero – “Tactical”
I had forgotten how spectacular the keys on J Cole’s “In The Morning” were before Brooklyn’s Liek Dinero projected his leaned out vision onto them. Dinero’s take on the twinkly ivories has me thinking in slow motion. There’s an echo to every movement and the edges of his words blur just as the slow exposure in the video has his body blurred through 3D glasses.
Not much happens in the video, but that’s kind of the point. It’s a Wockhardt night in the basement that bleeds into sunlight. The time elapsing doesn’t feel like time at all. All you remember when it’s all said and done is the comfortable lingering haze.
Ativan Corea – Audio 0001 [2018 – 10 – 09 232246]
Reposted by experimental flipster idntrmmbr (whose monthly rmmbr this playlists are a must-listen), the cover art is a tennis ball, and the title is a fucking file. The artist is a dude who goes by the name \//\\//\\/||| AKA YAYAYI AKA FUCK YAYAYI AKA ATIVAN COREA or just 예이예이, presumably from Korea (he claims the North). His Soundcloud bio says he’s now in America followed by a long, patterned combination of slashes. On this flip of Drip Too Hard, he sends a cascade of butterflies to gently drop whatever that weird wing dust is all over Baby and Gunna’s already soft vocals. He layers his synths to mimic the different aspects of the original beat, adding subtle touches like hollow Christmas bells. It’s stripped down and simple, but leans into a much airier atmosphere than the original. Honestly, watch out for anyone that would title a mix [][][][][][][][][][][[]][][][][][[][][][][]][][]][]][][[][[[][]][]][][]][][][]]][][[]][][][][].666%.
The Loosie Man – WOD RADIO TEASER MIX
Every month or two, The Loosie Man of Philly’s Working on Dying Collective drops a ~15 minute WOD Radio mix. The mixes are collections of deep underground hits from across the spectrum, interspersed with frenetic dancehall dub, Chicago Footwork, GTA references (I stay on the mission like Trevor or Franklin), Nextel chirps and myriad other sounds not known to go together in nature.
It seems like Loosie just puts in whatever he’s been banging with at the time of recording or matches his mood. One mix was almost exclusively Chief Keef deep cuts.
In this teaser edition, Loosie treats us to a dance mix of Money Man’s Aladdin and some very rare Yung God, whose early music was often credited to Lil B and never found as much shine himself. As someone who spends more time than really any human should in the Soundcloud grotto, it’s rare to hear mixes with more than a few voices I can’t identify, yet I can count on WOD Radio to have me googling lyrics to no avail every time.
At the end of the mix, Loosie explains some changes coming to the series. The mixes will be getting longer with more music, but will also be replete with conversation and appearances from Oogie Mane, F1lthy (both of WOD), and others. But “Don’t say the word podcast. That’s a dirty word. It’s not a podcast.”
Master Kato – “Ride Around”
LA’s Shoreline Mafia is straight up unfair. They’re so cohesive as a unit, but each of its individual members has legitimate star power. Master Kato, the most previously slept on member of the group, shows as much on “Ride Around,” produced by sound-of-LA-producer RonRon, and released for his birthday. Over RonRon’s eerie production, Kato proves he has the swagger to carry whole songs, unloading a sweet “Round around, hundred rounds on my shit, extended bitch” hook, and mixing it up with some Bang Bang’s right out of almighty So’s handbook. Also, Greedo’s “RonRon Load It Up, RonRon Load It Up” tag might be even better than RonRon’s mom’s “RonRonDoThatShit.”
1TakeJay – “Arco”
LA’s new wave is already breaking into the Migos-Travis-Drake listeners’ playlists, but 1TakeJay might wind up the one to blow the lid off the scene. Maybe even more so than Shoreline. His charisma is so damn contagious and he seems naturally optimized for social. Every time you see him grinning ear to ear in his videos or snippets, you can’t help but smile along. And he does shit like pull up at high schools and rap from the roof of his car for kids after school. It doesn’t feel gimmicky. He always looks like he’s having so much fun.
On “Arco,” which dropped earlier this year but has been given new life by a video, Jay paces himself ahead of the beat, like he’s brimming over with excitement to get his lines out and can’t hold them. He’s jumping out the bed to jump in your bitch DMs. Just like Blueface, Jay thrives on absurdity. And though Blueface SHOULD get the coronation, Jay doesn’t stray as far from convention and might be more palatable for most listeners.
