Mykki Blanco – Wavvy
Fierce!
[Video][Website]
[6.57]
Jonathan Bogart: The most facile comparison is of course with “Wut”, but it’s probably also worth noting that the second Related Video on Youtube is called “Azealia Banks x Paris is Burning- Fierce” (and the first is Grimes’ “Genesis”). Which situates it, however algorithmically, within a tradition far more coherent (and contested) than any easy “omg gay rap is the new hot thing” trendpiece-bait bullshit.
[8]
Alex Ostroff: The only time this year that I’ve seen my local haunts lose it more than they do when this pops up in a DJ set is when Mykki busted it out as the encore of a jaw-dropping 45 minute performance. Brenmar’s hyperactive kinetic production is the perfect backdrop for her raps to float across, stuttering, blustering and sloganeering, before slowing down to get wavvy in the chorus. Beautiful and menacing, Mykki prays to Destiny’s Child and gets summoned like Candyman. Trendpiece writers of the world: spend less time staring at her shoes (or her wigs or her halter tops) and listen to her words, because every other line is eminently quotable. Or don’t. She has absolutely nothing to prove to you anyway. Welcome to Hell.
[9]
Michelle Myers: Brenmar’s pinball machine production is intricate and restrained, but Mykki Blanco’s rapping is theatrical and passionate. Her rapping style recalls Busta Rhymes or Nicki Minaj — expressive, agile, playful. The verses deliver deft brag-rhymes that convey Blanco’s confidence in her rap skills as well as her presentation. “What the fuck I gotta prove to a room full of dudes,” she asks, “who ain’t listening to my words ’cause they staring at my shoes?”
[8]
Alfred Soto: Lines for the ages, and Romney-Ryan better get used to them: lots of dudes’ll be checking out their shoes in years to come. Over an early Dizzee Rascal worthy program, Blanco’s sneer and slight lisp are sexy as hell. She’ll write better and scout for better programs, though: no pro lets the air out of the track by including a moment of silence.
[7]
Anthony Easton: Would love this, if it wasn’t for this vocals, which are just terrible, not even the lyrics, which I think I want to avoid spending too much time analyzing, but the stumbling flow, the cluttered diction, and the lazy attempts at catch phrase creation. This hand wavvy is for meh.
[2]
Jonathan Bradley: The synths conjure sci-fi dystopia even if they can’t create any rhythmic propulsion, but all the cybernetics in the world can’t spark life into drums as soggy and stilted as these. Blanco unearths some personality in the second verse, with malevolently obtuse lines like “I’m coming outta the dark with red eyes and red hands” and “Young hearts run free; young bloods run wild,” but can’t bolt together the tune’s odds-and-ends to form a creature with a pulse. If we’re talking wavy, this could do with Max B’s knack for a hook.
[4]
Brad Shoup: “No, no, no, I pray to Destiny’s Child/Young hearts run free/Young bloods run wild” = OH MY GOD. We have library music to start, crunk to chase, and a gothic sensibility throughout. Just killer.
[8]
In my first draft, the lyric I quoted was “I bite the head off a heartbeat,” but then I looked at RapGenius and a comment suggested it was “bite the head off a harpie.” Which makes more thematic sense but is way less awesome.
Liked the synth work a good deal, but the chorus sucks a lot of momentum from it by taking away the syncopation. I’d have given a [6].
RapGenius is 18 kinds of wrong about this? They say “I’m the motherfucking rookie ear to ear” instead of “rookie of the year”. So, you know.
I’m pretty sure it’s just “bites the head off a ho”, no?
RapGenius is probably 18 kinds of wrong about everything.