We warm up a little to this Nigerian-British rapper…
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[5.43]
Thomas Inskeep: Dark, slightly sinister-sounding hip-hop from a rapper with flow — the beats are good, the lyricism even better.
[7]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Even as Clams Casino and Cadenza’s production rises and falls, ambient parts dropping out at will, Flohio seems supremely unbothered, filling up the empty space expertly. Her flexes are effortless, her different flows all fitting her well. She’s not saying anything particular interesting, and certain parts feel like they fit awkwardly (the elevators and the bees on the second verse never land as well as they should), but the sleekness with which she pulls the song off as a whole just works.
[7]
Alfred Soto: Except for the offbeat percussive loops, Clams Casino offers nothing special: the usual horrorshow sampled vocals and exclamatory strings. But Flohio, taking the title seriously, goes all in — perhaps too in; the track has no space, no silence.
[7]
Jonathan Bradley: Clams Casino reminds me of his deft way with a loop. The last time I was really paying attention to him was when he was producing for Lil B and A$AP Rocky, but here he goes further back, invoking the decade-old sounds of Kanye’s 808s and Wayne’s “Lollipop.” Flohio is a newcomer whose insistence outlasts her intrigue. Her bulky, sharp-edged syllables fill the spaces in the beat like Tetris blocks, leaving nothing behind.
[4]
Nicholas Donohoue: A lot of the cool groove for this is a huge credit to the landscape Cadenza & Clams Casino cooked up in the instrumental. Like a carnival, cathedral, and funeral parlor collided and used as a playground for Flohio to play around in, and she just pops.
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: Maybe it’s partly because Clams Casino’s production has dissolved by 2019 into the general production au jus, but this drearscape of General MIDI choir ahhs is a slog, and Flohio doesn’t help.
[3]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: The least engaging Flohio track yet, and you can thank this ill-suited collaboration for the result. The production is too stiff and prim to bring out the intensity often found in her delivery. The liturgical vocal sample is Clams on autopilot, and the quasi-development of a breakbeat is a major buzzkill. It encapsulates the fear these producers have in engaging in raucousness here, and it only leaves Flohio fumbling awkwardly without any support.
[3]