Tomorrow is another school day…
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[6.70]
Katherine St Asaph: “There’s a tidal wave of laptop kids making music at the moment, which on the one hand is a great thing, because it’s a whole new generation being encouraged to create…. But at the end of the day, emotional melodies are going to last a lot longer than impressive drum programming.” — Boards of Canada’s Mike Sandison, echoing Daft Punk. “Do the khaki dance!” — The NSJ Crew, refuting them both.
[6]
Patrick St. Michel: Another kid-centric rap song, another opportunity for an important disclaimer. Not much has changed since “Hot Cheetos and Takis.” These kids are still super-energetic and coming up with clever references: boxers, Mexican food, outdated advertising characters. One of them drops a good pun using the word “slack.” Whoever makes their beats is sneaky good. I like how cocky G6 is, and he makes some pretty smug faces in the music video. Keep it up, kids.
[7]
Andy Hutchins: I much prefer Y.N.RichKids’ “My Bike,” which I think is among the 10 best songs of 2013, to “Khaki Pants,” but that is no slight: While “My Bike” is about as good as TDE’d chill-rap gets, applied to a tried-and-true concept, “Khaki Pants” applies a tried-and-true form, the dance jam, to school uniforms, a less-familiar concept. Both songs are about freedom, as most of the Beats and Rhymes program’s best songs are, and should be, but while biking all over Minnesota is an obvious expression of what it is to be young and empowered, rapping “They ain’t got no flava, they like some celery / But swag ain’t what you wear; swag is a mentality” in an adult-mandated non-Polo polo shirt and khaki pants is a sign that these kids will be all right despite their dress code. This is front-loaded, with G6, Dame Jones, FlyGuy Carter, and Willie Boi all making great impressions before the second hook, but it’s also back-loaded, with Dame and G6 coming back with their verses between the third and fourth hooks; the only real problem is that, apart from Chrisss, no one in the middle (sorry, Ben 10!) has lyrics to match their flows. Also, the guy who is making these beats should really be getting some post-puberty rap money by now.
[7]
Tara Hillegeist: This is endlessly charming; their flow is masterful; the beat is perfect post-Dilla stunna stutter; if you don’t love this you have no soul.
[9]
Alfred Soto: Not as sharp as “I Missed The Bus,” much too long, and I have an objection to exploiting children for the sake of adult entertainment, but if Moveon.org had organizational acumen they’d run anti-charter school ads using this as a soundtrack.
[4]
Anthony Easton: I never understood the popularity of what is basically business casual among charter schools designed for visual minorities. The song seems to be using the follow-up to a viral hit to promulgate the idea, so it seems proper to note my confusion.
[5]
David Lee: That Onion video about the rap purist was both hilarious and disheartening because of how accurately it depicted the mindset that underlies reams of comments on Biggie YouTube videos: music can only be legitimate if it makes a capital-S Statement and adheres to certain writing and compositional standards — which, at its core, is an accusation of classlessness. But having fun, in and of itself, can function as a major statement. A raucous exposition on exuding a swag mentality despite dress code restrictions, “Khaki Pants” hinges on the intersection of the serious and the silly. The percussion acts as a trampoline for The NSJ Crew’s giddy charisma. It’s the sound of kids being kids, of street hockey and races and jump rope and weird dances on the playground, normalcy as a form of defiance. In a world where a nine-year-old black child must spend his free time not playing tag but pleading that the local government doesn’t shut down his school and where a black teenager cannot enjoy music over rattling car speakers without fearing for his life, rapping in a carefree shout normally reserved for recess, as Ben 10 aka Yung Lil Jon aka Baby Ying Yang Twin does here, amounts to a big fuck-you to systemic racism. It’s the Tyler Durden strategy: smile in the face of aggressors to deny them the satisfaction of winning.
[8]
Brad Shoup: I can’t tell who’s co-opting whom here. I’m happy the crew’s checking in with us again, but I’m way less interested in swag than snacks.
[5]
Crystal Leww: The song’s focus on a subject beyond “look at me and my friends and how we winning” helps “Khaki Pants” stand out as a rap group collaboration that actually feels like a true collaboration. Who cares if they’re rapping about school uniforms? That hook is infectious, and it sounds nothing like any other song in the genre even if it leaves the listener with the ultimate message of “me and my friends are swagged out.” These kids have emerged with more personality (or at least, more personality that isn’t annoying) and better flow than half of y’all’s favorite rappers.
[8]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER ME HAVING TOO MUCH FUN, SORRY #khakicrew #burrito #itsawrap #menswear
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