Harley Geffner‘s scam-rap mixtape is dropping soon.
MDMA – Genie
For every artist who blows up off two bars captured by the Tik Tok kids, there’s 100 more talented artists toiling deep in the orange bars of Soundcloud. MDMA is one of those artists, coming from the UnoTheActivist / Thouxanbanfauni blueprint. While asking around if anyone knew more about MDMA, Alphonse said he saw a YouTube comment once that said he’s actually Uno’s little brother. YouTube comments are not usually to be trusted, but MDMA does have a bunch of Uno features. His tape Witchcraft from early 2019 was one of my most spun of the year, and his follow-up Genie feels just as magical. Independent producers indigo, embasin and Johnny Cage lay a colorful cascade of slinky synths for MDMA to encase with his flowy autotune.
There’s nothing percussive in his voice to stabilize these songs. They’re loose, but still feel very controlled because of how MDMA binds it all together with the subtlety of the layers operating around the periphery.
Lil Zay Osama – Hood Bible
Of the Lil Durk school of melodic Chicagoans, Lil Zay Osama makes music that burrows into your skull. There’s not necessarily as much emotional depth on his new tape Hood Bible as someone like Polo G is capable of, but Zay’s just as dexterous with his and melodies and probably even more so with his flows. Also, Polo G is just plain special, so that’s not really a fair comp. Hood Bible shows off Zay’s range, both vocally and thematically, as he switches from detailing stories from a stolen childhood in which he couldn’t afford a bus ticket or cable to watch Nick at Nite to lighter concepts like on the song “White Friends,” in which he lays out all the activities that he participates in with his white friends. These include hiking, smoking pot while listening to rock music, wearing tight pants, hitting the Juul with Harry, and forgoing socks.
Young Thug – “I Got No Time”
Death, taxes, and incredible Thug songs unceremoniously leaked on to random YouTube accounts. Here, we see Thug at the height of his powers, testing the extents of his Harambe gurgle-growl-scream, simmering his hoo hoo hoooos beneath the slowly crawling beat, and giving in to his more alien impulses. The result is a song that’s way better than anything off the well-enunciated So Much Fun.
Duwap Kaine – “Par”
Equipped with Earl, Yachty, and Freddie Gibbs cosigns, Duwap Kaine’s quickly risen from Savannah projects to the cliched favorite rapper’s favorite rapper title. The line Earl highlighted in a recent tweet comes from Par, in which Duwap’s in the street “like a car.” Such a simple, but effective line.
