Pitchfork writer Alphonse Pierre’s rap column covers songs, mixtapes, albums, Instagram freestyles, memes, weird tweets, fashion trends—and anything else that catches his attention.
Celebrating Hook’s many chaotic moods
Every time Hook uploads new music she reinvents herself in some way, and not just for the sake of it. On 2019’s Bully, the Riverside, California firecracker introduced herself to the internet with bratty bars and breathy West Coast flows over bass-drunk beats that could make your subwoofer self-destruct. 2020’s Crashed My Car builds on that Cali style, with Hook sounding like she wants to do the Jerk atop the carcasses of every sorry-ass dude begging for a chance with her. “Your nigga can’t talk to me, don’t got game/I’m so hard, make a fly bitch lame,” she raps on the title track in a raspy, disgusted delivery. She then offered a break from the house party anthems on I Love You 2, Hook, which is instead driven by lush melodies and run-on-sentence flows that feel like eavesdropping on frantic conversations inside her head.
This week’s From, Hook doubles down on the schizophrenic delirium. Just listen to the first few seconds of “Punisher,” where she maniacally laughs like a B-action movie villain, screams, sighs, and furiously rambles at some unknown person she used to mess with. It’s uncomfortable and kind of funny, and sounds less like a rap song cut in a studio and more like a vérité recording of Hook threatening a person to do house chores while they cry and beg in the background. It’s real “Sharon Stone with the ice pick in Basic Instinct” energy.
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Nearly every song on the tape offers a rollercoaster of emotions. Here are some of my favorite Hooks on display:
- Lovestruck Hook: She longingly coos “There’s nothing like the first kiss” over a trippy Duwap Kaine type beat on “IDK”
- Hook the Bully: The raps on “LMAO” are the equivalent of her sticking out her tongue and shooting someone the “loser” sign before giving them a swirly, all over a blown-out Nebarb beat.
- Heartbroken Hook: She sounds ready to front an angsty pop-punk cover band as she shouts “So honestly I’m like fuck you, so honestly I cannot trust you” like she’s been gut punched on “hon$ty.”
- Hook the Exorcist: I can’t decide if the layered chants on “Get out my face (GTFO)”—co-produced by Odunsi, a pillar of Nigeria’s alte scene—are pretty or creepy. It’s probably both. Because the best Hook songs crash different moods together like bumper cars.
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Denzel Curry’s promising new era
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Denzel Curry is always moving forward. A lot of people loved his journey to the East Coast with Kenny Beats on 2020’s Unlocked, but I preferred ZUU, a homage to South Florida, and his early Memphis-influenced era more. I don’t mean to sound like one of those grouches who complain about wanting an older version of an artist back, but hey, sometimes experimenting doesn’t work, and that’s fine.
With that said, Denzel’s new single “Walking,” the first from his next album Melt My Eyez See Your Future, is really good. Produced by Kal Banx, who had his fingerprints all over the last Isaiah Rashad project, the beat switches from a vintage boom-bap snap to a thunderous Memphis bounce that’s perfect for Denzel without being a retread. There’s some soul to it because of that easy listening sample and humming bassline, and Denzel sounds refreshingly restrained yet still animated as he interpolates De La Soul, name-checks legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, and raps about the obstacles he’s ramming his way through. I’m in.
GlockBoyz TeeJaee: “Go”
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
It’s easy to take Detroit rappers for granted, especially someone as straightforward as GlockBoyz TeeJaee. Since 2020’s “Wack Jumper,” an instant classic of Detroit’s rap renaissance, TeeJaee has continued to lay down ice cold raps over thunderous Michigan beats, flooding the internet with his blunt hellraisers. His recent loosie “Go” surprisingly flips a smooth Common jam about being horny into a sped-up ode to the game: “Nigga I love this bitch, shit even my mama know.” It’s yet another example of the city’s deep bench.
DORIS’ SoundCloud page is fun as hell
Frank Dorrey is a Linden, New Jersey visual artist known for creating work that’s heavy on distortion, blurred images, and rich colors right on his iPhone. It’s abstract in a way that makes you want to look even closer. The music he makes under the pseudonym DORIS has a similar effect. His SoundCloud page is full of tracks that use frequent pitch changes and manipulated samples to create fuzzy yet mesmerizing songs that typically barely crack the one minute mark. Here are a few favorites:
It’s bonkers, going from hazy pitched-up cooing to a dance breakdown in the time it takes for you to poorly brush your teeth.
Though it’s only 42 seconds, it’s clear enough to convey feelings of longing while leaving space for you to attach your own mood to it.
“I got shit I wanna say but it’s risky/I wanna take you how you are but I’m picky”
Squeezes in drum ’n’ bass, a Three 6 Mafia interlude, and soulful croons.
This feels like it should backdrop scrolling through a photo album of friends you haven’t seen in a while. Nostalgic but ultimately feel-good.
NR Boor and Ot7Quanny: “Dior Dior”
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
There’s a recent wave of Philly rap that functions like drill but doesn’t quite sound like it. Ot7Quanny, whose casual delivery is close to a yawn, is one of the best in the scene, and NR Boor is coming into his own as well. Together they’ve released multiple joint tracks, but the short and sweet “Dior Dior” is the peak. Over an ominous beat, Quanny and Boor trade bars that bounce between light flexes and reflections on the grind. “My ex ask me why I broke her heart, ’cause that what dogs do/Gave my mom some racks and said, ‘That’s all you,’” raps Quanny. It’s a peek at a scene beginning to make noise outside of its borders.
BISKHIT: “My Scene Mami”
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
From song to song, BISKHIT’s voice never sounds the same. Scroll through her SoundCloud page and you’ll find vocals sped up so fast that they sound more like squeaks, and a filter that makes it feel like she’s slowly fading away. On “My Scene Mami,” a track from her new seven-track project Higher, her voice echoes like she’s rapping in an empty room made of glass. With a jazzy sampled intro that’s quickly interrupted by the booming beat and BISKHIT’s confident chirps, the song is hypnotic from the jump.
Headline of the week: “Lin-Manuel Miranda Explains Why He Wants a Lil Wayne Collab”
Accepting bets on whether Lin-Manuel will make Sebastian (voiced by Hamilton star Daveed Diggs) use the “A Milli” flow in the upcoming Little Mermaid live-action remake.
