The Singles Jukebox

What It Is (Solo Version) (Sped Up) (Slowed Down) (Blurbed)

[Video]
[6.42]

Michelle Myers: If you need a reminder of how times have changed, consider that the Atlanta rap group Trillville reached #14 on the Billboard charts in 2005. Their biggest hit, “Some Cut,” is a crunk-adjacent trunk-blaster with nasty lyrics and enough funk in the beat to have sounded retro back then. Doechii’s adroit reclamation of Trillville’s iconic “what it is, ho?” hook over a “No Scrubs” sample feels powerful but never preachy.
[8]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: This shouldn’t work. By all indications, this is a crass gambit for pop crossover status, a promising rapper gluing together nostalgic samples and appending a guest verse from a noxious shithead who has nevertheless been one of the more consistent hitmakers in rap over the last half-decade. There’s even a very silly EP of all the different “versions” of the song, featuring sped-up and slowed-down versions but no actual remixes. But “What It Is” isn’t… that crass? For one, Kodak Black is no longer present, his middling guest verse and altogether awful vibes excised from the version of the track that actually gets rap radio play. And regardless of the version, Doechii is too good at her job to let this suck. While I prefer her more in rage or boom bap modes, she’s still as stylish as ever, playing the role of pop-rap icon with enough poise that she might as well stay there as long as she can.
[7]

Crystal Leww: “What It Is” feels like a relic from an era that doesn’t exist anymore. It’s when R&B-pop songs with a verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus structure with a guest rap verse could be genuine pop hits. It’s from a time when artists could hit the 8-count — hell, when music was made for an 8-count. It’s a song about a crush that’s bright rather than fucked up — a feeling so light that it’s like floating along the clouds. 
[7]

Katherine St Asaph: That Kandi/She’kspere sample has as much instant impact as it did the first time round in the ’90s. But wow, you can really tell how incomplete this sounds without the Kodak Black verse that shouldn’t have existed in the first place.
[6]

Nortey Dowuona: This is just “Some Cut” but sung and including a mediocre Kodak Black verse. (Another thing he and Kendrick have in common?) The beat is thin and barely has a melody — two piano chords under a pelting synth line and drums that are so spaced out they barely connect. I don’t think any of these pieces gel into an actual song. Don’t even know what Doechii is doing here — this doesn’t establish her as an artist, and the only good line isn’t hers (“being black in America is the hardest thing to be”). What was so wrong with “Crazy”? At least “Crazy” actually banged — this can’t even cohere enough to suck.
[4]

Brad Shoup: This would have been a passé chart ploy in 2009–a nod at crunk over some frothy pop-R&B. But now that I’m old I’m happy to hear both.
[7]

Will Adams: Appealing in the way that any modern R&B-pop song that throws back to She’kspere is. Congrats to everyone who wished for a Kodak Black-free version.
[6]

Leah Isobel: Doechii’s timbre here is a little abrasive — not unpleasantly so. She’s tough, sharp. But she’s not laid-back; she barrels through the track instead of working inside it, which is interesting given that both of the samples come from songs with a much more relaxed kind of energy. Of course, it’s not like this beat is particularly relaxed either. It might be boxing her in.
[7]

Rose Stuart: Fluffy pop flair limits Doechii’s fire-cracker charm, keeping her from exuding her energy in the same way that made “Crazy” so visceral and alive. However, the discordant ringtone rap-esque beat is enough to keep things interesting. 
[5]

Ian Mathers: I really thought this might be the first year where the Jukebox didn’t give me the genuinely lovely feeling I get when I hit play on a song I think I don’t know and discover I’ve already heard and enjoyed it. But even in 2023, where it felt like I barely left the apartment, I heard this one out at least a couple of times. I’m not sure if that’s inescapability or just luck. I do dimly recall there being some other element to this one, but oh well; whatever it is, I don’t miss it.
[7]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Every line here can be memorized within a few listens, which means that any time it comes on, you can sing along to a series of hooks upon hooks. Doechii makes it look easy, too, as if inviting you to join in. No other single this year felt as generous. Hell, she even got rid of Kodak.
[7]

Taylor Alatorre: In an attempt to provide the most controversial reasoning possible for the most un-controversial rating possible, I will say this: every generation gets the “All Summer Long” that it deserves. And since “All Summer Long” is a solid [6], I see no reason to rule any differently here.
[6]