Rap game Alfred E. Neuman…
[Video][Website]
[4.75]
Alfred Soto: Ain’t worried about the absence of a hook either.
[2]
Will Adams: Not even a weak hook?
[4]
Anthony Easton: I find the production of this so juicy, that whatever he’s bleating over it, doesn’t really matter, which must be a version of not worrying.
[8]
Patrick St. Michel: French Montana truly does come off like the title of this song is true — he’s been such a nondescript persona up to now he really does come off as someone who doesn’t care about anything. Which, unfortunately, includes rhymes, flow and personality. “Ain’t Worried About Nothin'” seems to exist because everyone in Montana’s camp realized they had to release an album and needed it padded out (which would be a worry), so they put together this lazy exercise in repetition and uninspired rhymes (“that gun automatic/my car automatic”). This song almost predicted that Montana’s album didn’t sell all that well, which, predictably, he isn’t worried about. Good for him, but that doesn’t result in music to really care about.
[2]
David Turner: Last summer French Montana had the star-studded “Pop That” (Drake, Lil Wayne and Rick Ross), winter it was “Freaks” aided by Nicki Minaj, and this summer French achieved solo success with “Ain’t Worried About Nothin’.” His album Excuse My French might have been met with a tepid response, myself included, but French has become a surprising fixture on rap station. Not quite a crossover hit, it has done well enough to receive a remix with Miley Cyrus. The reaction to this hasn’t been too kind, but “We Can’t Stop'” is just “Nothin'” for stations hesitant to play rap, so why not hire Cyrus to give the song a boost? Cynical maybe, but she would’ve had #1 song in America if not for another white guy propped up by a black songwriter. Obama’s America!
[8]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Earlier this year I called French Montana the Rap Game Frank Drebin — like Leslie Nielsen’s Naked Gun character, he appears inefficient, well-meaning, bumbling onto glory over and over. Turns out I’ve been selling French short, as he hazily flits into artistic focus throughout his recent Excuse My French LP to surprising effect. One of the highlights is “Ain’t Worried About Nothin’,” custom-made to make a statement as loudly and effectively as possible. Fully embracing the Don’t Bore Us Get To The Chorus motto, French clips verses a few bars short to intentionally jarring effect, and leaves his hook untouched. That hook is 85 per cent of the song and he pounds away at it, each sneering megalomaniac slur leaving an imprint on your brain. I ain’t worried about nothin’. Nothin’! When he (briefly) raps, it’s from an NY perspective: he flaunts his invincibility by riding through Castle Hill in expensive cars and shows vulnerability for Max B’s legal woes. It’s a single-minded stomp, emphatically making a point about his power and his home and little else. I have listened to barely anything else for the past week. HAAAAANHHHH.
[8]
Brad Shoup: Still not tired of flow-on-the-cusp-of-singing. Abetted by treatment it’s almost allergenic, like French is fighting off a song-length sneeze. Shame that a sneeze would communicate an equal measure of sentiment. The track is a skitter and a siren… it’s such a standard thing.
[5]
Jonathan Bogart: French Montana’s sheer incompetence on every conceivable level is perpetually astonishing to me. Halfway through the video, I seriously started to wonder if he isn’t some weird brownface Ed Helms performance art experiment that’s spiraled out of control.
[1]