My kingdom for an “o”…
[Video]
[5.25]
Micha Cavaseno: Former Krept + Konan affiliate Yungen & the once road rapper turned crooner and Ed Sheeran track salvager Yxng Bane linking up is an amusing bridging the gap between the two generations of Road Rap (even if they’re relatively close in age) to make pure pop goodness and it works! Bane’s baritone and songwriting chops have strengthened radically since “Fine Wine” and hearing him over this mix of afrobeats and post-Mustard R&B is really satisfying, while Yungen is possibly all the perfect kinds of absolutely corny right down to the “Hey Ma” and “Many Men” interpolations about girl snatching. It’s a bit too on the cockiness, but otherwise serves as a fun banger for the summer.
[8]
Alfred Soto: An obnoxious Mustard-indebted beat over which Yungen babbles about besties and Bonnies. At least he and Yxng Bane didn’t ask a female singer to offer assurances.
[5]
Nortey Dowuona: Bland raps, a rip off Kojo Funds who I like just fine.
[2]
Thomas Inskeep: Too simplistic by more than half, with dull lyrics and duller rapping.
[3]
Ryo Miyauchi: This would’ve been another ol’ slide into the DM over a decent, shiny beat had these rappers not quoted their favorite early ’00s New York rap hits. Yxng Bane rewriting “Many Men (Wish Death)” as a bit about men taking wives away satisfies the 50 Cent fan in me like no other.
[6]
Ramzi Awn: Any song that name drops the Radisson Hotel is fine by me. The bass is on point, and the pitched-up island vibes are a welcome addition.
[6]
Ian Mathers: It’s not a bad little chorus, but you do kind of wish they’d either give it the full T-Pain or leave it alone; doing neither doesn’t give it any interesting tension or anything. Still has decent earworm potential, although it’s especially irksome to be focusing so much on stealing women from men like they’re tokens on a song that’s ostensibly (from the title on down) about the bond between our singers and their bestie.
[5]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: A slick afrobeats-informed pop tune that stays light on its feet. It may feel slight at first but ADP’s production is refreshing in how it doesn’t try to force anything on its listeners, especially compared to his previous songs with Yungen or Krept & Konan. The end result is a song that’s highly replayable, both for its lowkey demeanor and Yxng Bane’s surprisingly memorable hook.
[7]