The Singles Jukebox

Other taxi apps and rap tracks are available…

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[4.00]Adaora Ede: Soundcloud rap has come full circle, from the simple days of promoting your mixtape in the bio of your Twitter (thank you, spam followers) to you-know-who‘s cosign from you-know-who. We all recognize the sound. The self-awareness seen in the references to the most commonplace of Internet phenomena (don’t tell me that you didn’t roll your eyes when he brought out The 6 and Kylie Jenner) doesn’t make me want to like Madeintyo’s  Seussical flow, yet it can’t make me dislike the song. If it helps, I thought “Trap Queen” — a forebear that also found its popularity via Soundcloud — was trope-y nonsense, and nothing like the Southern trap song it tried to be. A year later, I am a proud member of the #FettyHive. I’ll wait on it. I’m not about to lie and say I didn’t hit dem folks when Madeintyo dropped the verbiage that is “Bad bih in LA tell me she’ll make the trip.” Skrr skrr.
[5]

Cassy Gress: Madeintyo is a young, up-and-coming rapper from Atlanta who still lives with his mom for money reasons and is releasing hot new tracks, or so says the internet. I listen to this and I have no idea what is “hot” about it. He’s obviously not eight but take out the dick references and pitch his voice up a bit, and doesn’t he sound like it? It’s so “I’m Madeintyo and I’m here to say” school assembly-like, awkwardly shuffling from side to side. This was recorded in his kitchen and sounds like it, totally humorless with his “skrr skrrs” and his attempt, serious or not, to make Uber snazzy and cool.
[3]

Taylor Alatorre: I like the impatience in his voice when he snarls “every-fuckin’-where.” Then again, it’s hard not to sound like a badass when using expletive infixation. As for the nonchalant way he raps about everything else, the best I can say is that it’s refreshingly low-stakes for mainstream hip hop, but others like Makonnen and Lil Uzi Vert have already covered this territory with more heart and less cynicism. Those “skrt skrt”s don’t sound playful to me; they sound like the exchanging of memetic business cards.
[4]

Alfred Soto: I take the title as a statement of fact rather than complaint. Despite my liberalism I support the ride sharing service’s sinister way of beginning and ending an evening’s bar crawl with cheaper and faster alternatives to the squalor of South Florida cab rides. For men at any rate. This Atlanta rapper’s timbre is as cool as market realities. If the track fails to connect, is contemptuous towards women, and doesn’t care how it gets to its final destination, ain’t that just like Uber?
[6]

Lilly Gray: The success of this song is a marriage of unpretentious flow and killer hook; I’ve sent this to friends and intend to quote the lyrics at them for a solid week. It’s a weird jam, from the vocals that sound like they were recorded using a computer mic to the see-saw backing and surprise harp plucking. Madeintyo’s rapping is lazy-casual and satisfying, with lines like “I think that bitch from Canada” that find a home in your head and stay there, pulsating, until you have to blurt them out. It’s also the first time I’ve heard Uber name-dropped like a luxury car, which is ultimately #relatable. The one thing that brings this dangerously close to a YouTube parody is the canned beat. Satisfying dick-suckin’ hook aside, there is such a thing as too casual, though the cheap feel is an integral part of the song.
[6]

Madeleine Lee: Both the bedroom production value and the tone of Madeintyo’s voice are really easy to listen to and make me understand why this song has grown so popular. What stops me from putting this on repeat myself is my total apathy about any of the 3 or so recurring lyrical topics, which even the charm of “skrr skrr” can’t conquer.
[5]

Gin Hart: Listen, I am in support of pre-rolls in the VIP, but Ubering everywhere (skrr skrr) sounds like the least interesting transportation-related activity possible on this earth and the existence of this song makes me so embarrassed to be a living, breathing youth. Additionally, don’t give or receive head in your Uber, kids.
[1]

William John: Entirely charmless, slurring, self-aggrandising in the ugliest way, and disposed to inventing irritating catchphrases; this is the inebriated stumbler you do your best to avoid getting into an Uber with, in song form.
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