A$AP Ant & Tootie Ro – Hood Famous
An auxiliary member of A$AP Mob (he won’t be with the crew at their Manchester and London dates next week), A$AP Ant first caught my attention with a series of low-budget videos and fairly average verses on tracks produced by Atlanta (via San Fran) stalwart Zaytoven. He felt like an outlier even among the hordes of A$AP Mob, which also includes such non-chart friendly members as A$AP Yams – a man whose job it is to act as a spirit guide, or “Yoda” for the group. Ant’s rapping isn’t as polished or honed as other Mob members such as Nast and Twelvyy, however, and his songs veer between cloud rap, such as Mobbin, and a more typical trap sound. His latest mixtape Percs & Lean with Tootie Ro is decent enough, but it’s held back by the fact it’s derivative of nearly every trap tape that’s come out this year. The exception to that is Hood Famous (another Zaytoven production) that stands out because its time signature is all over the place, with scattergun percussion appearing out of nowhere and Ant’s flow almost disappearing in between the leaned-out piano lines. Hopefully it’s a harbinger of more weirdness to come.
Girl Talk and Freeway feat A$AP Ferg – Suicide
Threats of instant retribution, a Simpsons-referencing psychedelic video and off-kilter production make this one of the best tracks released recently. Another A$AP Mob alumni, Ferg adds his bellicose narratives to the beats of Girl Talk and Freeway. Originally appearing on the duo’s Broken Ankles EP, the track’s been beefed up and given a video where gangsterfied Simpsons factions – skateboarding Barts and Milhouses and a 2-stepping, weed-smoking Lisa – wreak havoc with pistols. It’s a strangely tuneful acid trip.
ILoveMakonnen x Drake – Tuesday
One of the most divisive tracks of the year gets a video and a remix. ILoveMakonnen’s Tuesday turned heads and set message boards ablaze with equal amounts of praise and vitriolic abuse when it came out in the summer. A song that is essentially about being that busy on a weekend – and even Monday night – that the only time you can party is on Tuesday. It’s becoming a sleeper hit and is the chilled out R&B-rap alternative to Bobby Shmurda’s Hot Nigga ubiquity. The video is actually pretty funny, but whether that’s intentional isn’t clear. Shots of cities all around the world are interspersed with citizens of those environs doing menial tasks and pointing at the sea while listening to the track. In another dimension, meanwhile – probably on a Tuesday night – Drake and a bunch of fashionista pals are sipping drinks in a bacchanalia-themed club where all the women wear masks, while Drizzy switches between huge grins and super sad faces. Nothing says 2014 emo-rap better than this.
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Knicks Remix feat Action Bronson, Joey Bada$$, Ransom
The unlikely rap bedfellows of self-defining thug Freddie Gibbs and sample-loving boom-bap producer Madlib return with a remix of Knicks, an album track from their LP, Piñata. When they say remix of course, it isn’t actually remixed – just re-purposed with three New York emcees invited to add new verses. The fact it’s an ideal track for New York rappers – laidback boom-bap with ample space for lyrical dexterity – makes it noteworthy and another reminder of how well the GibbsLib partnership worked. Bronson and Joey Bada$$ both drop well-crafted verses packed with references to semi-automatic weapons and weed, but Ransom – who you might remember incurred the wrath of Nicki Minaj after he claimed to have ghostwritten for her – steals the show with his menacing baritone. The EP’s release coincides with the New York Knicks’ first game against the Oklahoma Thunder, a team that’s without the injured Kevin Durant, a player who received a curse from Lil B, which was apparently very effective.
Lil Mouse – Math Teacher
A serious contender for most ridiculous hook of the year – “I’ve got more money than my Math teacher” – comes from Young Scooter, who adds his heft to this cut from fellow Chicago driller Lil Mouse (real name Michael Myers). If you’re wondering why a rapper would create an ode to winding up a teacher by opening his wallet, it’s because Mouse is still two years off completing his GCSEs – he’s only 14. The veracity of his claim might not stand up considering he’s home-schooled, but he’s instantly created an anthem for disaffected youth who can’t be arsed with percentages and pie-charts.
