The Singles Jukebox

Brooklyn rapper becomes surprise sleeper hitmaker…

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Jonathan Bradley: Not something either city would take pride in, but 2016 has Atlanta bested on its own slurred terms and New York reinventing itself by imprinting its local peculiarities on foreign styles. Young M.A., like Don Q and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, lays down New York syllables on distinctly non-New York sounds, and the tension between old and new seems pitched perfectly to excite old heads as well as new. (The technique is distinct from the A$AP approach, which turns 125th into a web address.) “Ooouuu” rides on its titular moan, ecstatic and scornful all at once, but Young M.A.’s verses are built from quick-punch, quick-decay syllable bursts that call back to Big L and Jim Jones, even while her adlibs stay Southern. “I’m pretty but I’m loco,” she says: that sounds right.
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Will Adams: Young M.A’s ability to command the atmospheric beat — from the sparse drums to the reverbed guitar sample — alone makes “Ooouuu” worth replaying. The titular hook is an added bonus.
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Alfred Soto: M.A.’s thick stentorian voice busts into the room; like Kevin Gates’, it’s compelling as sound effect alone. Her improvised ooouus work too, complementing the colorless rhymes.
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Thomas Inskeep: Hardcore bars about guns, sex, and getting fucked up, from an unapologetic openly lesbian rapper who rides the wide-open beat from U-Dubb so easily, it almost sounds like she’s freestyling. 
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Crystal Leww: “Ooouuu” is built off a beat so tough that you can bang your fists on it, and it’s the reason why everyone from ASAP Ferg to Nicki Minaj to Tink has felt the need to hop on it and flex. Young M.A’s verses are certainly fine, but it’s really the way that she says “ooouuu!” that is the MVP here. It’s infectious, fun, and the reason why this has become such a surprising summer hit.
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Hannah Jocelyn: I love that this is a hit, and I love how Young M.A. beats her male counterparts at their own game by using the same language they do, down to puns about fellatio (which she amusingly discusses in this video). The way she raps over that strangely sinister beat is great too, not sounding like an overly hyped-up partier but instead sounding more chilled-out, almost like she’s just shooting the breeze with the listener, cracking jokes that make herself laugh, name-dropping her friends instead of brands (aside from that one Hennessy reference earlier in the song). It’s so casual that I wouldn’t mind “Ooouuu” becoming a memetic phrase like YOLO — though maybe not for as long as YOLO stuck around. 
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