Image via Qmc Reece/Instagram
Harley Geffner has never seen a single clip from the Jennifer Hudson show, but is inundated with those walk in clips everywhere he looks.
Niontay – “Mumbleman”
Niontay’s music feels like it comes from a truly subterranean depth. The Florida-bred, Brooklyn-based rapper sends shockwaves down your spine with pulsating beats and raps that reverberate around the inside of your head. On “Mumbleman,” he embodies it and rips through countless one-liners that, delivered clearly, would have even the most staunch “real rap” defenders chomping at the bit. He says he doesn’t care if “god herself told you you tough,” because she’s lying. He’s “off the shit you get from surgery, but certainly don’t know a surgeon.”
There’s something playful about the way that he does all of it. He’s teasing us, calling himself the mumbleman and then captioning his own video with an occasional [inaudible] or a bunch of question marks. He raps like a phantom, but the punches appear just in time to make contact.
Skrilla – “Mozz Crib / Butter”
What else is there to say about Skrilla? He’s operating on an entirely different plane than anyone else in rap right now, and it’s not even close. Our editor-in-chief compared it to ‘07 Wayne, and he’s spot on. The copycats are starting to come out as Skrilla’s signature flows start to slip into mainstream consciousness, but the thing that makes him special isn’t a single pre-defined flow. His special sauce is his spirit of improvisation, and the wandering mind of a drug-addled maniac that spurts, blurts, and drags his syllables with an instinctual lilt. It reminds me of someone nodding off and stumbling down a street, always looking like they’re about to tip over, but catching themselves every time right before the actual fall. Skrilla somehow stays balanced, and it’s just pure mental instinct. He’s truly inimitable. Every song he releases is more inventive, weird, and wild than the last.
Qmc Reece – “Dadada”
At our core, we’re all mirrors. Our brains are trained through millenia to crave connection probably because the pre-humanoids died without community or whatever. So it’s become natural instinct to see something and emulate it. Whether you’re trying to or not, it’s subconscious. When you see people having fun, it’s hard not to have fun. Children smiling and laughing make us smile and laugh. It’s why some of the best rap music to me isn’t about bars or beats, but it’s about fun. It’s why I was ready to die on the hill that YN Jay was the best rapper of 2020.
With Oakland rapper QMC Reece’s “Dadada,” there’s this schoolyard lunch-table banging energy that just invites you in. He has some fun bars, but it almost doesn’t matter what he’s saying. The beat sounds like a bunch of people trying to sing a beat together, and that’s the draw. There’s a nostalgic element, like a cypher where everyone in the circle reacts at the same time to something wild. It feels like a block party or a karaoke night, and the fun is contagious.
T9ine – “fightn Irish”
Every T9ine drop comes seemingly out of nowhere with a random still photo as the cover art on YouTube. This style of loosie drops makes each song feel almost like a rare collectible. On “fightn Irish,” he takes a disorientingly spacey beat and slides through the central nerve with a barrage of his typically emotive bars that he delivers without overly emotive flourishes. He questions his ability to love and trust, but with an icy analytical view. You can hear the real feelings in the tone, but it’s an intentional step back to get a better look at it. He does the same as he runs through his own mind when he calls himself blessed and highly favored, then thinks it through, and resolves “at least I thought I was / I sit back from everything that I had bubbled up.”
stoneda5th – “Old Man”
It’s almost as if StoneDa5th is haunting you. He’s the voice in your head that gives in to the darkest parts of the human mind, and he has this connection to the other side that makes itself clear in his raps. The thin line between life and death is something that’s treated like an afterthought. It doesn’t matter which side of the line you’re on. His eyes glaze over the camera as he raps about reaching out to people who aren’t there, talking to the demons in his own head, and how the 40 millimeter on his lap can’t wait to greet his enemies.
The Moreno Valley rapper has a distinctly Cali swag to his flows, and he’s been doing it for a while now, but the bars are getting tighter and the thoughts darker.
Emptying the Chamber
