JME is one of the better personalities of the 2000's, doing for the grime scene what Das Racist and Riff Raff have done for hip hop as of late (eg treating the genre like a teen treats a parents' car; getting behind the wheel, driving erratically and making jokes about what is seen in the rearview).
This new cut with Deeco is bananas. I always love to hear JME's approach on a track because I know it is going to be something original..."Let's Roll" is no different. While it is more straight ahead then, say, "Punch in the Face", he peppers in enough JME-isms to let you know who is controlling the mic. The outcome is three near-perfect JME verses put over a bottle rocket of a beat.
And if you disagree, remember... if he says a shit bar then he's trolling.
For me, there has always existed a Matt Damon/Ben Affleck dynamic to Das Racist. The same type of presumption that (speciously) suspected Matt Damon was the real mind behind GoodWill Hunting leads me to believe that Himanshu is the real mind behind Das Racist, with Kool A.D. just playing a complementary, coat-tails-riding Ben Affleck role. Now, I know this is untrue--a listen to Palm Wine Drunkard shows that Victor has bars (albeit weird fucking bars). This doesn't stop me from being more excited about a release from Heems than Kool A.D. And with greater expectations comes a greater potential for failure--which is why Wild Water Kingdom is impressive. It is exactly what I thought it would be.
Heems goes Beast Mode/Lebron vs. the Celtics on this mixtape. His bars have never been so consistently sharp. He also does a great job selecting the production on this one (almost exclusively from his boys, of course) to highlight his razor-sharp tongue.
Himanshu, like Jonah Hill, seems to squirm when pegged as the "funny guy" and has actively tried breaking from this mold. With Wild Water Kingdom, Hima crystallizes a perfect display of his manifold qualities--the funny dude, the politically minded, the pop-culture obsessed, the hip-hop scholar, the social commentator, the word play god, the nu-90's flow ambassador--which proves to be an exciting listen.
Oh, and he has come up with the best ad-lib since Gucci Mane's "burr" with "Heemaaaa"
Friday night I sat slouched on my dilapidated couch in my third floor walk up, drowning my liver in beer and my lungs in cigarettes. Blasting out from the speakers was Das Racist. I'll be god damned if it wasn't a match made in heaven.
Here is their latest release, "The Actual", featuring Talib Kweli:
The music world often tries to get to me care about a myriad of things I don't like (In Rainbows, Fiona Apple's life, 2 Chainz, self-indulgent writing styles--jk i love those) and often my opinion never changes. There are instances, however, where I turn out to be completely wrong about something after hearing it the first time. In fact, it happens a lot. I hated Das Racist on first listen. I didn't like The College Dropout. I thought Gemini was forgettable....the list goes on. With this in mind, I've made an honest effort not to be too harsh on new material after a single listen (crazy concept, I know).
Today, the beneficiary of my self-awareness is Angel Haze. Despite a regrettable name and a style that may or may not have been stolen from a YMCMB member, Angel Haze has an undeniable magnetism about her. The fact that she is on True Panther made me give her another listen and this shit right here has her inching ever-closer towards a Drunken Uncle co-sign (the ultimate reward for any artist).
