GENRE: Jerk
LABEL: G2G
I was hesitant to listen to the new wave of underground rappers when they first popped off. Maybe all the Nettspend triller memes, Dave Blunts clip farmers, and shitty Brennan Jones snippets made me think people were not taking the genre seriously. Something about it bled a toxic breed of irony that cared more about hype moments and aura instead of listenable music. Now I know that’s not the case, there is genuine love behind the music. It is quintessential internet rap, vibrant, youthful, but not always kind to new listeners. I had this same averseness with Bladee when I was a freshman in High School. The times have changed. Internet rap comes in waves: it used to be Lil B, then it was Yung Lean, now it’s xaviersobased. (Keep It Goin Xav actually is the record that showed me how much I’ve been missing out on this new era of underground rap.) Now, it’s about losing yourself in the repetition and the bass: “every time I listen to it, I wanna groove, you feel me?”
Come Summer of 2024 and YT and Lancey Foux’s “Black & Tan” quickly bored itself into my silly-putty brain. It kicks off with a punchy jet-engine bass before rocketing you from London to South Africa to Miami. YT, an Oxford graduate, flexes with a kind of posh luxury that only the Brits can get away with. Is this the new wave? Posh London jerk rap? She askin’ who we be and I told her we the sound, says Lancey. I found it oddly alluring, like a relic of a time I’ve never lived. “Black & Tan” became my song of the year, nearly beating out a generational MIKE posse cut and life-altering Lorde remix. Yet despite my love for that track, I did not follow too closely on YT’s career, partially because his Spotify kept getting hacked. I just felt like this was the start of something special.
YT is obsessed with Y2K nostalgia: Frutiger Metro, Gaga (shoutout to Run Along Forever too), Dance Dance Revolution; The cover art even looks like an homage to the many white-background posters for mid-2000s comedies. Even though OI! uses all the trappings of modern jerk rap (Kashpaint ‘eh’s and Hyphy stomps) it wants to convince you that it’s the gaudiest pop rap tape of 2011. Donned in plastic shutter shades and a kitschy Project X-style sweater vest, OI! is an outsider’s take on fratty club rap: garish synths, drunken flow repetitions, and a wealth of indiscriminate flexing.
OI! is appreciated best as a party album. YT gives a bassy modern spin to clubby rap hits (think Spins-era Mac or that one “Jordan Belfort” song), it is less about the lyrical content rather the energy it brings – to echo Xav again, “every time I listen, I wanna groove.” “Serena” parrots Tens-era frat rap, with its sing-songy ‘aye’ chants and futuristic party synths. It’s bouncy and flirty, a potential Kirko Bangz b-side, or YT’s ode tens-era club rap. On “Panda” he compares himself to ‘11 WizKid over what sounds like a Kankyō ongaku track mixed with Soulja Boy’s “Donk” (with allusions to Iyaz’s hit “Replay”).
“Put Your Hands Up” is OI!’s most evident club banger, with it being a crudely remixed Swedish House Mafia track. Still, despite the garishness of the sample, YT insists that you nod your head. Don’t care if you think it’s tacky, put your hands up in the air right now. The sample is deliberate, it goes off in the club: we saw this with the beautifully anachronistic The Naked King. (Also, on this song YT describes himself as a ‘baddie’ when he pulls out his LV purse, which I find really endearing.)
YT’s fame and wealth are the focal point of the tape. He describes his success with the language of intoxicated romance, drunkenly texting on expensive flights, living the lavish life. He can’t remember anything, not even the girls he’s texting. As he hazily repeats on “Missed Your Call…” foreign baddies, foreign clothеs, foreign cars. YT loves expensive things. On “Girls Trip”, he talks about not looking for romance and just going on a shopping spree with his girls. I promise you don’t want me, he retorts. He loves going to Harrods and buying Birkins with his girls. (I think that’s actually really sweet.)
He continues on “Arenas”, where YT treats his girls to Benihanas and Balenciagas. He’s not even trying to have sex afterwards: told her I ain’t even tryna smash, but she ain’t leavin. He just wants to buy bags and eat chain Japanese food. When he does rap about women it is strangely PG. That’s your girlfriend, bought her flowers and she kept them in a vase.
See how I interpreted him as an ‘outsider’ approaching club rap? He uses all the idioms associated with swag-era party rappers, but it’s slightly off. I have grown accustomed to weirdo internet pseudo-rap like LUCY or DORIS, but this is different.
After continued listens I realized that I was wrong clocking YT as a clubby frat-rapper. No. He is a pop diva. Mindless spending. Partying with your girls. Getting lost in the drunken club haze. This is YT’s metaphorical arc as a rapper-turned-popstar. And this is not to say that YT is not a capable writer. There are actually some really clever bars on this. Oxford n—a, I’m a nerd, I love commas, check my grammar. YT is a posh enigma. I can’t quite put my finger on what makes this tape so compelling, but I keep listening. Rap diva music.
If you liked this and would like something similar, check out: New World Order by Fimiguerrero, with 2 by xaviersobased, or A Dog’s Chance by Polo Perks <3<3<3, AyooLii, and FearDorian.
Fetid Hog 