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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.
TisaKorean is an incredibly exciting triple-threat
Go ahead, laugh at TisaKorean. I understand. What else are you supposed to do when you see clips of the viral dance rapper moving like his limbs were made of rubber while shouting like a quarterback calling out an audible in parking lots, gas stations, and street corners around Texas? Don’t get me wrong, the videos are great, and I look forward to all the details: What moves from Texas dance-rap lore will he revive next? Will it be a solo or group performance? What color will he dye the patch of hair on the back of his head?
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His 2021 tape mr.siLLyfLow is as easy to get lost in as a good comic book. “How I Walk in the Club” sounds like an outtake from the Souljaboytellem.com GarageBand sessions, with haphazard pitch shifts ratcheting up the insanity. On tracks like “Silly Achilles” and “Watermelon Hero,” he spikes that quintessential Yung Nation-influenced dance-rap feel with an overload of glitches and effects that give them a modern touch. Even the songs that sound too familiar have something going for them: “He Can’t Do It Like Me” is essentially the 2020s version of D4L’s “Betcha Can’t Do It Like Me,” but TisaKorean’s weirdly calm (for him) flow gives it a unique bent; I probably didn’t need a flip of the Willy Wonka theme, but turning the sample up to deafening levels and mixing in hand claps and a rumbling bass make it sound cool as hell.
His 1st Round Pick EP has me gassed up, too. If we lived in a just world, everyone on TikTok would be creating original choreography to “Pocket Fulla Ducks” right now. “NFL Dreaming” is incredibly lush, with chords that could fit on a N.E.R.D. record, stirred together with some noise. My favorite is “Backseat,” where he croons like a pitched-up droid over a spacey beat with shattering glass and squeaky DJ drops.
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Perhaps the coolest thing about his music is how many artists have reinterpreted it into their own sound. His songs have spawned a ton of remixes, a trend that he readily encourages. The first noteworthy one was 2020’s Vino24K remix of “Gabby,” and recent highlights included dj blackpower’s drum ’n’ bass twist and Popstar Benny’s pluggnb edit. As chaotic as TisaKorean’s music often is, it can be absorbed into almost any sound with ease. Which leads me to the most impressive part about his virality: He doesn’t have to do anything out of character to make it happen.
In New Jersey with East Coast rap encyclopedia Papo2oo4
Walking down a strip of Elizabeth, New Jersey lined with a mix of South American restaurants, dollar stores, and nightclubs, the raspy-voiced underground spitter Papo2oo4 runs into a friend he hasn’t seen in a long time. Almost immediately the conversation is about rap. “Yo, you hear that Cassidy is gon’ battle two niggas at the same time?” asks Papo, like he’s been waiting to bring the 2000s lyricist up for a minute. Meanwhile the friend, who mentions his past addiction to battle rap, waves off the comment as if he’s a former smoker being offered a cigarette.
Throughout the afternoon, Papo2oo4, who calls Elizabeth home but is now based in Brooklyn, rattles through years of East Coast hip-hop. Blocks away from his mom’s apartment, the 28-year-old blows smoke into the air as he points out a spot where the Juice Crew stayed back in the day, argues with his producer Subjxct 5 about whether Jersey’s all-time greatest rapper is Redman or Queen Latifah, gets excited when a high school student drifts by playing Meek Mill out of their phone’s speaker, and, as a self-proclaimed “Hot 97 superfan,” reminisces about local radio station moments as if they happened yesterday: G-Unit Saturday-night takeovers and on-air tensions from the Nas and Jay-Z beef.
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In front of a massive plate of Peruvian steak and fries, Papo recalls the music that meant the most to him in his childhood. He swears by Jay-Z so much so that he’s still not over the shots Lil Wayne took at the Brooklyn icon years ago. And he stays connected to his roots within the large Dominican community of Washington Heights—where he lived until his early teenage years, before his family was forced out by rising rents—by mentioning Uptown Manhattan punchline rappers who were foundational to him, like Jae Millz and Vado.
That East Coast flavor runs through the mixtapes Papo has been dropping since he picked up rap in the mid 2010s. Backed by Subjxct 5’s versatile production, which ranges from soulful loops spiced up with thumping percussion to turn-of-the-century Swizz Beatz bounce, Papo hit a groove in 2021 with five effortlessly listenable mixtapes. His flow has shades of 2000s Harlem—always taking its time, as if he’s too cool to rush. The bars are nestled under the beat, and you sometimes have to listen closely as he shapes slices of his life into raps about fashion and sports (name-drops range from Padres Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn to Villanova-era Randy Foye), using hip-hop as a scene setter: “Back when Roc-a-Fella had State Property on the roster/I already knew who was fake and who was proper,” he raps on Winnertime’s “Ritz.”
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His most recent tape, AF1MG Live 2oo4, Vol. 3, is a 25-track whirlwind. Paired with imagery of the Jason Kidd-era New Jersey Nets and joined by underground staples like DJ Lucas, YL, and Wiki, who invited Papo to take the stage at his Bowery Ballroom show two weeks ago, he hits a stride. It has a few of his best tracks yet, like the thudding, Tony Seltzer co-produced “Intheway 98’” and the “Throw It in the Bag”-sampling “Bentley Coupe,” which includes a couple verses so meticulously detailed they feel like spending an average day in Jersey with him: “Opulent smokin’ Braves game on the TV/Ozuna at bat, shawty ’bout to come see me.”
Vayda: “metempsychosis”
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Every now and then I check in on Vayda’s SoundCloud page, where she’s been cranking out lush hybrids of ASMR&B and airy rap for a minute now. Sometimes her tracks can be so abstract that they’re hard to grasp, but her recent release, VV, is her most complete music yet. For the most part, the project feels like being lost in a thick fog. “metempsychosis” is a current favorite because of how her spaced-out vocals melt into the self-produced haze. Like most of her songs, it’s not much longer than a minute. And when it ends it feels like being snapped out of hypnosis.
Throwback rapper movie corner: 1998’s Belly
Historically, when people talk about Belly, the first half of the movie dominates the conversation. That opening scene is the apex of the money-burning Hype Williams era. And then DMX’s mid-movie detour to Jamaica might make you shut your brain off, though the dancehall party that includes X getting grinded on while a young Sean Paul performs is pretty sick. But during my recent rewatch, I gained a newfound appreciation for the extremely nonsensical final 30 minutes.
In case you forgot, it’s when Nas, after reading a bunch of self-improvement books, decides he wants to leave Queens for Africa—no country, no city, just Africa. It’s when Method Man suddenly becomes a gun-toting, home invasion maniac. It’s when DMX, a former drug kingpin, is randomly forced by the FBI to infiltrate a Nation of Islam-like organization to assassinate a Farrakhan stand in. I know that sounds pretty dumb, and it is, but once my mind moved past overrated bullshit like plot and cohesiveness I was able to finally enjoy the madness.
The highlight for me is when a reformed DMX (he’s not really that reformed, he just wears reading glasses and sweaters now) arrives to go through with the assassination and is instead won over by fake Farrakhan’s extremely basic, never-ending speech. Then it’s immediately followed by a Nas voiceover where he tries and fails to sound joyous as he describes finally making it to Africa: “When I opened my eyes I couldn’t believe it, Africa for real,” he says over a slow-motion shot of… Times Square. (I imagine Hype Williams blew the money he was supposed to spend on filming in Africa on Nas’ glasses budget.) I can’t believe there was ever a time when I treated the back half of Belly like an afterthought.
Veeze: “Let It Fly”
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Veeze splits his time between being a rapper and a hip-hop socialite. Ever since his 2019 mixtape Navy Wavy, the Detroit MC is more likely to be found in an Instagram photo with your favorite artist than on a song with them. But for those who follow along with YouTube channels centered around Michigan rap leaks, it has been clear for a while that he’s one of the region’s best when he chooses to be. His first official single of the year, “Let It Fly,” backs that up. He uses his nearly-sedated delivery to rattle off punchlines that seem random but sound cool as hell when strung together. “My jacket Palm Angel, my shorts Balenciaga/My boys in all black, you think they play for Donda,” he raps, sounding like he’s dozing off on the couch. This will probably be the only time he clocks in for a while.
KrispyLife Kidd: “Somebody Dropped” [ft. YN Jay]
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Don’t fact-check KrispyLife Kidd and YN Jay. “Somebody Dropped,” a track from KrispyLife’s new mixtape The Art of Spice Talk 3 (note: there was never a The Art of Spice Talk 2), is less about the truth and more about who can get away with the wildest punchline. About halfway through, the song really amps up—the two Michigan rappers finish each other’s sentences, fumble their punchlines and keep going, and occasionally exchange words for grunts and screams. The best part is that, after a particularly unbelievable bar, they’ll try to offer some clarity. “I just fucked a super bad bitch then I fucked her twin,” raps Jay, before he explains, “They look just alike, though,” as if he doesn’t even believe it himself.
