Audi or Volkswagen?
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[6.67]
Iain Mew: This going from a song I waited to come up on UK hip-hop video channels to an unlikely top 20 hit has been a delight, punctuated by seeing a Tinie Tempah show where one of the highlights was him bringing out Meridian Dan to perform it. I don’t even have a driving licence, but sitting on the bus I can admire the occasional CLC Kompressor or whatever driving past, and now there’s a fun song dedicated to it. Its chorus is just so tight, its monotone synths and repetition set up perfectly for chanting and with a steel that doesn’t dull, alloyed by the flex of the baller/baller/pauper switch. And just as the track might begin to flag, JME arrives for a typically great verse, punning on white Vans and turning spending £20 into a brag, always just the right side of deadpan. Also, I love that one of Dan’s first tweets after “German Whip” charted was to congratulate Lewis Hamilton — if the BBC don’t use this song for their next closing montage after one of his wins I will be very disappointed.
[9]
Kat Stevens: I’ve never seen no man chasing Frisbee!
[9]
Anthony Easton: I can never tell how to read these kind of songs that seem affectless or anhedonic. I like the flat blankness of easy money in other spaces, but this slides slightly on the wrong side of annoying.
[5]
Alfred Soto: The chiming, bass-as-effect production evoking Dizzee Rasal in 2004, “German Whip” snaps but doesn’t draw blood, is kind while flirting with cruelty, coherent without being legible.
[6]
Megan Harrington: Though I’m admittedly less than aware of what’s significant to London’s grime scene, I have a hard time picturing Meridian Dan cruising around in a town so un-sprawling. “German Whip” is a weirdly medium specific song title which implies there will be some car talk within. There’s not, Dan only mentions the BMW 650 by name (just for comparison, 2 Chainz drops twice as many German cars into his “Beez in the Trap” verse). Mostly this is a motley collection of signifiers (manaman this, manaman that) over a beat that deserves better.
[4]
Brad Shoup: I can’t imagine running a Google Image search on “German whip,” but some robots once told me driving the things makes for a pretty chill time. “German Whip” the song hits the corners; the beat keeps scrambling the signal to keep things interesting, and the hook is terse enough to please a Teutonic craftsman.
[7]