Staff Pix 11/22: Rap Crate!

This week’s Staff Pix celebrates RAP! Tune in form 3-4pm on WECB to hear these pix live!

“Yeah Right” by Vince Staples

Vince Staples’ “Yeah Right” is a legendary collaboration between Kučka, Kendrick Lamar, Flume, aaaand the one, the only SOPHIE. Throughout the track, Staples, Kučka, and Kendrick address the fabrication of lifestyles and their relation to celebrity culture. Kendrick’s iconic verse names the “money and fame” as something that is ultimately temporary. Only because of his genuine dedication and understanding of the industry, Kendrick is able to maintain his powerful status as a rapper and songwriter. Simply put by Kučka, “You pretend to get a better idea about the lifestyle/ You’re chasin’/ Keep pretendin’, make it real until every cell replaced, erased.” With the accompaniment of Flume and SOPHIE’s iconic individual styles, the pair’s production harmonizes together with the ebb and flow of bass and synth. It’s an unforgettable track that exists beyond just the plane of material existence and comes to life in its transcendental importance. —Sophie Parrish

“namesake” by Noname

If you don’t already know Chicago rapper Noname, this song will be a bombastic introduction. Over nothing more than a thin synth line, jazzy drum beat, and deep-funk bass riff, Noname interrogates herself as an artist. She makes political indictments so catchy it’ll give you whiplash with lines like, “Same day the airstrikes strike down Iran / I ran into the house with a blunt in my hand, let’s smoke.” Each time she points a finger, she points three back at herself: “That’s you, that’s me, the whole world is culpable.” She takes a major dig at capitalistic Black musicians and American commercial entertainment: “I ain’t fuckin’ with the NFL or JAY-Z / Propaganda for the military complex / The same gun that shot Lil Terry out west / The same gun that shot Samir in the West Bank / We all think the Super Bowl is the best thing.” But the best part of the song is her ironic cheerleader-esque delivery when naming names, “Go, Beyoncé, go!” She concludes her tirade with another dose of self-awareness, acknowledging her performance at Coachella despite her past avowal to never perform for them. The darkly comic delivery perfectly compliments Noname’s political and moral criticism; it exposes the contradictions of our culture and gives us the means to own our complicity. —Christian Jones

“Da Art of Storytellin’ (Pt. 1)” by Outkast

Classic with a Capital C. Infectious as all hell, “Da Art of Storytellin’ (Pt. 1)” is a standout from 1998’s Aquemini–an incredibly strong album that becomes more impressive as the years trudge on. Compared to other Outkast tracks, this one isn’t the most technically abstract, but André 3000 and Big Boi’s sort of vocal tennis makes way for complicated lyricism and grit to shine through. It’s endlessly playable and nothing but iconic. Peace be to André 3000 playing his flute in the park, and also to Big Boi who…um…recorded a song with Kate Bush? —Sofia Giarrusso

“United In Grief” by Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar is a legend. His lyric flow is masterful, his instrumentation is incredibly unique, as heard in this song. He begins with an acapella line: “I hope you find some piece of mind in this lifetime.” His angelic vocals mixed with another voice singing, “Tell em’ the truth,” instantly create an alluring atmosphere. Blunt and monotone, he says, “I’ve been going through something / one-thousand eight-hundred and fifty-five days / I’ve been going through something.” 1,855 days prior to this song was the date of his first release. What is this song we’re about to experience? As soon as the beat drops, he dives into a raw reflection of his career. He discusses money, his mental health, and powerful musings on his experiences as an artist. A mix of fast drum beats and gentle piano melodies paint the scene behind Lamar’s emotional release. When rap gets real, it hits hard. Artists like Lama, use the power of lyric flow to lay themselves bare, speaking truth into the rhymes. “I grieve different,” he repeats. —Izzie Claudio

“Soft Landing” by billy woods and Kenny Segal

Is Billy Woods the best currently active MC? Probably. And is Maps – his evocative, wanderlust-stricken 2023 collab with LA producer Kenny Segal – one of the best hip-hop releases of the 2020s so far? Almost definitely. Across a series of seventeen tracks that range from bite-sized vignettes to five-star rhapsodical meals and to the rhythm of Segal’s scuzzy, beautiful, occasionally frightening beats, Woods looks inward while seeking solace during a particularly exhausting tour, finding pathos in everything from the purring of an old cat to the glow of fireflies in the night sky during a wildfire. On “Soft Landing,” the NYC rapper racks his brain while on a flight to who-knows-where, invoking the political in one moment (“Free political dissidents from they cages/ But leave ‘em open, we got lists of names, pages and pages/ Wouldn’t want to waste the space the previous regime gave us”), and the psychological in another (“Maybe suicidal thoughts was the everyday struggle”), moving from one disparate topic to the next with startling ease, before the plane thoughts all melt away into an Impressionistic brush stroke; “For a brief, sweet moment it was nothing in the thoughts bubble/ From up here the lakes is puddles/ The land unfold brown and green, it’s a quiet puzzle.” —Lucca Swain

“Gunz N Butter” by A$AP Rocky and Juicy J

A$AP Rocky’s Testing has most definitely stood the test of time as one of his most personal and experimental creations. The album pulls inspiration from a wide array of different places, through sampling, production, and Rocky’s performance. One of my favorite tracks, “Gunz N Butter” exemplifies the scrapbook-eque production that makes his creative process so accessible to his audience. Plus, it helps when you collaborate with UK’s most elusive producer Dean Blunt and a legend of the Memphis rap scene, Juicy J (founding member of Three 6 Mafia). The Memphis influence gives the song that distinctive distorted, low-fi sound, yet it cleverly falls behind A$AP’s performance, feeling as if Rocky is listening to Juicy J through a radio. Dean Blunt’s off-kilter production ties everything together so well - creating something eerie, raunchy, yet cleverly cohesive. —Adelaide Russell

“Suck My Dick” by Lil’ Kim

The nastiest girl you know just got nastier. “Suck My Dick” is an emancipatory gender-bent anthem from Lil’ Kim’s classic The Notorious K.I.M. Jumping right in with a pumping, assertive beat, Kim lays down her rhymes: “Coming through like bulldozers, / No, we ain’t sober / Bum bitches no better than to start shit.” Lil’ Kim, as with many other misunderstood pioneers, seems a bit too strong on first listen, everything is about sex and the hook of the song is just Kim and a disgruntled lover shooting “FUCK YOU” back and forth. Kim’s femininity crystalizes and sharpens into the same assertive, powerful rhymes of any other male musician. In her very own words, “If I was a dude I’d tell y’all to suck my dick.” —Nathan Hilyard