No schoolboy…
[Video][Website]
[5.40]
Mallory O’Donnell: Is this an actual song or just a really boring PSA?
[3]
Anthony Easton: I know I am supposed to be scared or intimidated, but I mostly find this kind of fronting silly.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: Yeah, no, you’re both gonna have to try harder than this. Raised a point for almost bumping a terrible website off page one of Google; docked again for half of that being Fredo Santana.
[3]
Megan Harrington: Fredo Santana’s remix is better and almost all of Que’s best lines are borrowed, but he is the first to rhyme Hermes with shermheads.
[3]
Brad Shoup: Most of the damage is done from the hook — the end’s either overkill or savvy marketing — and Que’s cracking rasp, but he works in some great lines at the beginning (in particular “clip so long I can lean on it,” and yeah, he knows it’s a keeper). The best sonic moment is the cadence-matching drill on “catch a nigga slipping from behind,” but really, everything’s in sync.
[7]
Alfred Soto: There’s a difference between freestyling and freezing at the mic, and the Sonny Digital beats that has proven infinitely recombinant locks Que in place.
[4]
David Turner: How does one believe in love at first sight? One’s physical beauty cannot be enough to tell you that you’ll enjoy being with someone when they almost knock you off the bed after a restless night of sleep. And yet we’re supposed to value first impressions. I heard this song nearly a dozen times before I liked it. It was mostly grating and seemingly too simple to have any redeemable factors. A few dozen more times I began to really like it. And at this point, it’s my favorite rap song of a young 2014. One cannot rush love.
[9]
Jonathan Bradley: Brisk bursts of a gasping, rasping voice like that are a good start; having them wield a hook like “OG — Bobby — Joh’s’n” in what passes for three syllables is even better. I like the minor key arpeggio but I like the trap snares better. Atlanta street rap hasn’t been this unlovely in a while. That’s OK.
[7]
Crystal Leww: God damn this song rattles. Que’s lyrical matter and flow isn’t really anything new nor does it really matter. It’s just something to accompany this beat which requires listening volumes so loud that vibrations are felt. Between this and “All Gold Everything”, I’m getting the feeling that LeBron James has the best workout mix ever.
[7]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Bobby Johnson is the former coach for the Vanderbilt Commodores football team. Bobby Johnson is also the name of a producer of a song called “OG Bobby Johnson”. “OG Bobby Johnson” is about neither football coach or the beatcrafter (or even Glenn Plummer in South Central). Que is a rapper from Atlanta dedicated to bellowing plug/trap cliches as scrupulously as he can. Que says nothing new but has a chant that is terrific for inebriated clubgoers and daily visitors to Traps N Trunks. Bobby Johnson the producer makes up for the emptiness by scurrilously scraping, ducking, diving, glimmering and cleaving away at what he’s crafted. Que is shot into mid-level fame, gets a remix with T.I. and starts learning on the job (and learning well). Bobby Johnson continues to shop his beats around, finessing his oft–spacey bludgeoning. And while some things change, others stay the same: Bobby Johnson remains the former coach for the Vanderbilt Commodores football team.
[7]