The latest disappointing mixtape from one of the year’s most exciting rappers proves that the best way to encounter him is his YouTube channel.
The loudmouthed, unhinged Rxk Nephew has been one of the most exciting rappers of the last year. He layers his colorful dope dealing fantasies (with recurring characters and hijinks) and conspiracy theories over beats that pull from Atlanta trap, Detroit funk rap, the L.A. beat scene, house, trance, and plugg (occasionally he ditches the instrumental altogether). Sometimes he’s screaming, other times he’s calm; sometimes he’s rambling, other times he’s extremely coherent; sometimes he’s motivated in the booth (or whatever broom closet he raps in), other times he sounds like he’s being forced to record against his will.
Yet because all this boundless energy has yet to be translated into a worthwhile mixtape, the best way to engage with the Rochester, New York rapper is by stumbling into a track on his YouTube channel, which is usually updated multiple times every week. There, you’ll find tracks like “Early Age Death,” which sounds being underground rave with a bunch of zombies, or “American Tterroristt,” which features theories that belong in a sketchy Reddit thread: “Explain to me why the fuck Benjamin Franklin stood his ass up on the roof/How he discover somethin’ out the sky/If that’s the case, T-Rex discovered it.” Even after one listen, these unexpected moments are often stuck in my mind the next day, but his mixtapes remain less notable because of their fairly uniform production. Both Listen Here Are You Here to Hear Me’s soul samples and Slitherman Activated’s strobe light club music surround his unpredictable lines with a bland regularity.
Likewise Nephew’s new mixtape Crack Dreams, which as of this writing already has a sequel, places tales of crack dealing more detailed than an episode of Snowfall mostly over funk beats equally indebted to contemporary Detroit rap and the heyday of No Limit and Cash Money. It’s akin to his best friend, turned mortal enemy, turned best friend again Rx Papi’s four-track EP Dope Deals and Record Sales, but it’s not as memorable, and on this tape a good chunk of the songs meld together. Songs like “Top Fire” and “Nephew Shiesty” contain the type of ominous piano riff often found on Detroit rapper Icewear Vezzo’s mixtapes, and they would be nearly indistinguishable if “Nephew Shiesty” didn’t include his finest Homer Simpson impersonation. Other records are built upon Beats by the Pound-influenced thick basslines, and though some work out (like the exasperated tone setting intro “Shooting Star”), Nephew goes through the motions on a handful of the others (like “52 Fourth St” and “Overbite Overnights”).
If this was Nephew’s YouTube channel, you could skip right by those misfires and never think about them again, but on a full project where every song matters, these disappointments linger. Still, the mixtape has fun highlights. On “31 Peck Street,” he robs someone in their neighborhood for their PPP loan, continues an ongoing obsession with his business car of choice (the Honda Accord), and sells work to someone who resembles Ed Sheeran. It’s just another day in the life of Nephew. The sing-song-like “Auto From Rocket Power” unexpectedly channels a No Limit mixtape deep cut, and “Suede Type Beat” puts his dope pushing chaos to the type of smooth West Coast beat that wouldn’t be out of place on a Shoreline Mafia record. Unfortunately, these peaks only further the urge to abandon the mixtape and go back to his YouTube page; he’s probably uploaded something better there already.
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