(The theme is not country.)
[Video][Website]
[4.89]
Abby Waysdorf: I was in NYC this weekend and played this for my brother’s fiancée, who said it sounded like something she would hear on Hot 97. Which I can definitely see — for all I think of it as very Dutch, it’s got a certain radio-friendliness among the talk of drinks and drugs and all the teens taking MDMA, with its bouncy beat, easily-identifiable (and quotable, and changeable) chorus, and a sound that works well for any country that’s heard hip-hop before. It’s certainly taken over the Netherlands, where it’s been number 1 on all the charts for over a month, and I can see it spinning out online in the near future — the made-for-the-Internet video clip, the fact that “drank en drugs” is pretty much understandable even if you don’t know Dutch. I might get sick of it at that point, but until then I have to admit that I’m drawn in by its goofball charm. Or maybe it’s too much sun.
[7]
Micha Cavaseno: Yung Lean discovers Jackin’. Still just as ugly.
[3]
Thomas Inskeep: The lyrics are dubious at best, roughly translated as “if you wanna chill, bitch, it’s no problem … I got drink and drugs,” lots of references to hooking up in and out of the clubs, etc., etc. But musically this stripped-down hip-hop track is kind of fascinating, low-tech and frequently spare to better highlight Lil Kleine’s flow, while Ronnie Flex chimes in periodically in a sidekick role. This is from a compilation, New Wave, for which a bunch of young next-gen Dutch rappers and producers were thrown into a studio with a tight turnaround, and it sounds like it, in a good way.
[8]
Brad Shoup: Just nasty, like sweat pooling on the ceiling. The MCs are up to the challenge: sizing you up, checking their pupils in the mirror.
[6]
Scott Mildenhall: Utterly ridiculous and probably best understood by Dutch residents, but on a basic level this seems to be all your favourite novelty drug hits of the past quarter of a century boiled down into an inferior “Rudebox”. Still, it’s definitely diverting, and more obnoxious than most of those combined; ambivalence-inducing, and that’s an achievement in itself. All told, it’s ironic that much of the good to be found stems in the bareness of the beat, accentuating the subtlety of what Kleine and Flex do vocally. They sound as tired as they do tiresome, and that brings a curious appeal that stops the song from wearing thin for roughly an extra three plays.
[5]
Patrick St. Michel: I want to find some sort of way to defend this, because anything sung in not-English eventually gets tagged as “weird,” but this isn’t weird at all, let alone interesting. It is a song about drinking, doing drugs and trying to get laid, themes that already constitute a large chunk of music in the English-speaking world (though usually not as phoned in as this), soundtracked by post-Disclosure untzing. This is just so boring.
[2]
Iain Mew: Starts chilled, but the more it repeats and the more hectoring the tone gets, the more it feels like being the most sober person at a party you don’t want to be at.
[3]
Ramzi Awn: It’s hard to keep me away from drinks and drugs, so good job on pulling that off for a hot minute. E for Effort.
[4]
Mo Kim: The beats here are hollow, the voices nimble enough to navigate the negative space. The only question: where are they going?
[6]