The Singles Jukebox

Not to be confused with the city in Wisconsin…

[Video]
[5.43]

Mark Sinker: Mad Jack Mytton (1796-1834) was a name in county local legend round where I grew up: bought himself into parliament but only ever sat for half an hour as an MP, rode a bear to a dinner party in full hunting fig, set fire to himself to cure his hiccups one time, died in debtor’s prison. Part of the story is that he drank and drank until the night he spotted a mermaid in his glass and that very moment swore off drink (except he never swore off drink). The way I was told the tellers made it funny, but actually it seems kind of sad.
[6]

Nortey Dowuona: MoneyBag knows how to create a persona for an addiction that is shortening his life and hiding his wounded heart. It’s especially helped by the surprisingly smooth sample of Ashanti’s “Foolish” and DeBarge’s “Stay With Me.” Both are beautiful songs about foolish decisions, and I guess we can add Wockesha to that list as well.
[6]

Alfred Soto: Hey, all, DeBarge wrote jams as sinuous and inevitable as “Stay with Me,” but, sure, Biggie and Ashanti haven’t gone away. Coming on like 50 Cent in love man mode, Moneybagg benefits from the deceleration of the sample rubbing against the familiar trap beat. So he (barely) gets away with it.
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: The sample, instantly recognizable and mostly intact, makes the rest of the track seem more chaotic — erratic rhythm, flow like stumbling through rubble. The steady sample also makes that sound less exciting than it otherwise could.
[5]

Oliver Maier: Moneybagg Yo reminds me of a crisper, less unhinged Future, but doesn’t quite match the other rapper’s magnetism. As competently as he balances sounding boastful and dejected, the whole thing is too one-note to really engage me.
[5]

Juana Giaimo: We already know how men are somehow able to make women responsible for everything, and it’s not the first time a man does so by turning them into a literary device, so I’m at a point where I’m not even mad at this song. I’m just bored of it.
[4]

Will Adams: As I wrote about “Planet Rock” earlier this year, that “Stay With Me” piano line is an evergreen sample that can trigger nostalgia across generations — whether for Ashanti or Biggie or DeBarge. Its melancholic affect works well with “Wockesha,” as Moneybagg Yo wallows into an empty cup once filled with lean. A glum but evocative listen, the kind I probably found myself experiencing late at a party, sat on a couch wondering why I was so sad.
[6]