Plus more highs and lows from the world of rap this week, including a stink-face-worthy track from Fly Anakin and a simple request to join Nav’s bowling league.
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.
Catching up with BabyTron at a Crocs store in New York City
“I need to find the shit emoji,” says BabyTron with the seriousness of a deep-sea diver in search of hidden treasure. The 21-year-old is meticulously combing through the bins at a Crocs store in Midtown Manhattan, looking for a poop emoji charm to stick on his new Christmas-themed clogs. Even though it’s a little tough to make out each small charm under the store’s weak fluorescent lights, he insists on wearing a thick ski mask and heavily tinted white Cartier buffs. While caressing the pricey sunglasses, he explains how important they are as a longtime rap status symbol in his hometown. “In Detroit, even if you got holes in your shirt, you need these.”
Disappointingly the poop pins are out of stock. The emoji doubles as the logo for the ShittyBoyz, the punchline-obsessed trio that includes Tron alongside StanWill and TrDee. A couple of years ago, the group rode Detroit scam rap’s viral wave. They looked like they had just spent 72 straight hours playing Call of Duty on Xbox Live and there they were rapping—with flows heavily inspired by hometown heroes DoughBoyz Cashout—about cracked cards, stolen VPNs, and finessing helpless grandmothers out of their social security numbers on beats that sampled cheesy ’80s pop songs and arcade games. It was fucking ridiculous, and also pretty damn good. The top YouTube comment on their 2019 track “Super Smash Bros” describes the initial ShittyBoyz experience perfectly: “I laughed at first but then I ran it back.”
A lot of that attention went to Tron because 1) he oozed personality and 2) his appearance. Many people pegged him as a white rapper—partially due to the fact that he had the same haircut as Amanda Bynes in She’s the Man—but he’s actually biracial, with a Black dad and a white mom. Tron acknowledges that he got a boost from that phenomenon where white rap fans get googly eyes over any white rapper with the slightest bit of talent. “To some people the appeal is just this Drake Bell-looking dude rapping decently,” he says, name checking the former Nickelodeon star.
But Tron wasn’t just good for a “white rapper,” he was really rapping his ass off. On his best mixtapes, 2019’s Bin Reaper and this summer’s Luka Troncic, he delivers verses with clever punchlines that include extremely specific and nostalgic pop culture references, short vignettes that detail internet scams, flows that make it sound like he’s either just been shot out of a cannon or is bored in the back of a classroom, a sharp ear for funky beats, and a dire commitment to the Detroit rap style.
Yet despite his clear abilities, Tron has spent the last two years straddling the line between rapper and meme. This can sometimes put him in an odd position. Insane Clown Posse’s Violent J, who was once friends with Tron’s dad, recently posted a picture of him and Tron with the caption “This kid grew up hangin at my house!” But Tron wasn’t sure if he should share it or not. (For the record, Tron faintly remembers watching Wrestlemania at Violent J’s crib one time but that’s about it.) As funny as the memes and jokes can be, Tron knows that he’s always at risk of them taking on a life of their own. So far he has been able to center the attention on his music through standout verses like his appearance on Lil Yachty’s Michigan Boy Boat along with a relentless approach where he uploads a music video—usually shot in a parking lot, open field, or convenience store—to YouTube almost weekly.
Next up for BabyTron is Bin Reaper 2, out today. Its 27 songs are stuffed with nonstop shit talk and punchlines that reference everything from Atlanta Braves legend Chipper Jones to tag team wrestling innovator Matt Hardy to the long-running anime One Piece, laid over a combination of traditional Detroit rhythms and the Beat Street bounce that the ShittyBoyz first gained notoriety for. The goofy sense of humor and inevitable memes are just an added bonus. “It’s about balance,” Tron says as he heads to the cashier with his poop-emoji-less Christmas Crocs. “If a meme goes too far it’s unstoppable, but also a joke on Twitter might just be an introduction to what I can really do.”
Fly Anakin: “Sean Price”
When Fly Anakin is on his shit, you can’t help but make the type of animated faces that are only seen in the crowds of the most intense battle rap showdowns. On his latest track, the Virginia rapper pays homage to late Brooklyn underground star Sean Price over an Evidence beat that could have been co-produced by Isaac Hayes’ ghost. From the jump Anakin uses his breathless delivery to talk slick: “My shawty body posi/That’s why she naked all the time talkin’ bout ‘don’t watch me.’” I couldn’t wipe the impressed scowl from my face for the next three minutes.
Kash Doll might be a good actress
I understand if you have decided to opt out of the fictional drug dealing universe that 50 Cent’s production company has going at Starz. What started out as a relatively simple story about family tension within a drug enterprise on Power has now been stretched into three spin-offs, and that expansion shows no signs of slowing down. But outside of that world is a standalone show called BMF. Loosely—and they emphasize the loosely—inspired by real events, it tells the story of Detroit drug kingpin Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family organization. With five episodes out, the show is off to a promising start. Like Power’s first season, the story shines when it goes beyond the nooks and crannies of the criminal syndicate and highlights the strain the business puts on romantic and familial relationships.
The latest episode, “Secrets and Lies,” is a good one, and notably features a breakout acting turn from Detroit rapper Kash Doll. She plays Monique, a single mother caught in between Big Meech and his rival. Like so many women on television, the character is criminally underwritten. There’s not much known about her outside of her relationship to these dudes, and usually she’s just there to cry, or complain, or have sex. But Kash Doll’s screen presence elevates the part. Whether she has to throw a tantrum in her living room, coldy shut the door in her ex’s face, or just sit there looking pissed, I’ve become invested in the trajectory of a character that the show couldn’t care less about.
Grindhard E: “To and From”
The most unsung rapper of the Flint rap wave is Grindhard E. He’s not a living, breathing supervillain like Rio and Mike, a borderline cartoon character like YN Jay, or a smooth operator like Louie Ray. He grounds his music in reality, and his anecdotes reflect that. He’ll rattle off a story about struggling to find the corner store that stocks the Backwoods he likes, and he often emphasizes the unglamorous side of hustling (like wearing the same outfit for three days). Yes, he also has a seemingly endless well of self-deprecating jokes and demented one liners, but his best bars are just everyday thoughts. “I’ll never work a 9-5 cause they don’t pay enough,” he raps insistently on “To and From,” and he’s willing to go through chaos to live by that mantra.
This is just a plea to join Nav’s bowling league
I’m one acoustic guitar loop or sad piano riff away from going on a crusade to shut down the Rod Wave/NoCap type beat industry altogether, but I’m making an exception for Tampa’s T9ine because he may be the best doing it right now. Whether he is deep in his feelings or talking macho, he has this smooth monotone delivery that adds a tinge of indifference to all of his songs. On “Dolo,” he bounces between these two sides of himself; it’s as if he’s simultaneously going through the wringer but can’t slow down long enough to think. For heavy-hearted reflections this effective, I’m even willing to put up with the sappy beat.
Headline of the week: “Damian Lillard Wants People to Call Him a Rapper, Not an NBA Player That Raps”
The only thing worse than rappers trying to not be called rappers is professional basketball players trying to be called rappers.
