The Rap-Up: Pure Absurdity
Harley Geffner highlights three new tracks from the chaotic RXK Nephew, the latest from Kodak Black, and a new Sheff G x Sleepy Hallow link-up.
RXK Nephew x Zero The God, “Undisputed Champs”
In our online prison full of opinions on the loss of mixtape culture, it’s refreshing to hear Rochester’s RXK Nephew stay true to his roots with a real mixtape to restore the feeling. With “Undisputed Champs,” he and Virginia’s Zero The God go back and forth for 18-minutes over seven beats, with hilarious interstitials. There’s Mike Tyson’s “you’re not no Alexander,” speech, there’s a news anchor saying Neph and Zero are wanted for threatening the entire country, there’s Neph going on a tirade about how his prices are dependent on his mood, and even the “Real Trap Shit” voice instructing us to fuck someone else’s baby mama and buy her kids Jordans for the summer. They rap over a slowed version of 50 Cent’s “21 Questions,” a Bob Marley-type beat, and even in broken Spanish over a dembow beat. Forget any of the lyrics: Even if you’re just in it for the gimmicks, it’s well worth a listen.
RXK Nephew x Zero The God, “May, 18th ,1969 Approximately 2:30PM”
Even by Neph’s lofty standards, this is one of the most absurd songs I’ve ever heard. It starts with a monologue on George Bush and crack, and then devolves into naming fictitious dinosaurs after Neph ponders why God let them die. It continues with Neph painting a red line with regards to riding passenger if the driver is blind, he says he knows a guy with no legs, but they bought him Jordans anyways, and he knows a hooper with one arm who looks like a flagpole, but his breath stinks. Then he throws a shot at beavers, accusing them of building dams for no reason, and at deer for existing for no reason. Alligators are on land for no reason. Cheetahs are fast for no reason. Giraffes' necks are long for no reason. And Jordan keeps dropping shoes for no reason. Put the whole song in the Louvre right now.
RXK Nephew, “John Fetterman”
This song got removed from all platforms, and required random youtubers who grabbed the MP3 to re-upload it. Probably something to do with Neph threatening to traffic a sitting Senator’s daughter. After all, she is his type (OnlyFans and food stamps).
Kodak Black, “Love Me Not” + “Friend Or Foe” (f/ G6Reddot)
I am the first person in my bloodline to hear “the way she suck my dick, she could suck a mango through a straw.” Now I went long on the paradox behind Kodak Black in my last Rap-Up, which you can read here, so we won’t rehash the moral implications of covering him. While mainstream outlets won’t touch him, for good reason, he has quietly been on one of the best hot streaks of his career over the last 6 months. His consistent stream of youtube-only singles and features belies someone in complete control of their craft, thematically, stylistically, and with the precision of an Olympic gymnast.
Every song comes with new pockets and flows that feel foreign to my ears. He’ll drag a thought half a beat behind the pocket before snapping out in front of it, like Dash from The Incredibles downshifting mid-race so nobody realizes he’s already lapped the field. He is both hyper-deliberate with his pacing and somehow still off-the-cuff. The melodies linger and the hooks are everywhere.
On “Love Me Not,” he explores the idea that people around him struggle to accept him as he is. He’s flawed and knows it better than anyone, but can’t seem to find people willing to look past the tally sheet. With a string pattern that calls back to “Tunnel Vision,” and a hook that’s far catchier than its lyrics would suggest, he lands in a real sweet spot here, balancing self-awareness with instinct in a way only he really can.
With ‘Friend Or Foe,’ there’s a real looseness to his delivery, and basically no structural safety net whatsoever. His flows are bouncing off the walls, as he raps around the 1:05 mark, “15 years old, robbed the Verizon store and T Mobile and Sprint, then sprint,” followed by a string of garbling about a friend who fed him and put him back in school, then re-emerging with “piped up peedaboo, peedaboo, scrap n——, glock cock, pop, bop, peekaboo fuck n——.” If you can even read that in your head and imagine a flow with it, I commend you. In the moments where it feels like these songs could fall apart, they instead tighten. With this recent run, it feels like each song is stretching the boundaries of what he can get away with, and he keeps getting away with it.
Sleepy Hallow x Sheff G, “Baby I”
Sometimes, a producer will really lock in on a rapper’s style and craft beats that so perfectly suit them, it’s like there’s a mind-meld happening. Great John has this with Brooklyn rappers Sleepy Hallow and Sheff G, who are both currently incarcerated on gang conspiracy plea deals. With “Baby I,” which was surely recorded before they turned themselves in, you can feel that connection immediately, like the beat was built around their instincts.
It’s a somewhat muted beat, with glitchy screeches slicing their way through the mix, as Sleepy and Sheff slide along the rips they create. The percussion doesn’t crowd the space so much as create a vacuum for their disarmingly subtle melodies. Free the guys, and let’s get these three back in the studio together.