Welcome to Mixdown, an ongoing series where Pitchfork staffers and contributors talk about mixtapes and mixes that may not be covered in our reviews section but are worth discussing. Today, we're taking a look at new releases from Iamsu!, Migos and Lil Silk.
Carrie Battan: I think we should start off by asking our honorable Mixdown guest "Ryan Dombal" what his favorite of this week's three selections was.
Corban Goble: This is the first Mixdown we’ve done with a Ouija board.
Iamsu!: Camo EP
Ryan Dombal: Thank you for allowing me to participate in this week's Mixdown. It is a true honor. That said, these mixtapes are very long and I had to cut back my daily sleep patterns significantly to listen to them all, so I cannot account for any of the completely unnecessary Carrot Top references that may follow.
My favorite pick is Iamsu!'s Camo EP, not just because it is a manageable five songs long (but that did help). It is sleek, it is funny, and it has actual hooks you could remember if so inclined. He reminds me of Tyga but not a complete jackass.
Jordan Sargent: I was sort of jazzed about Iamsu! when he dropped the Million Dollar Afro mixtape with Problem right about this time last year, but then he released a bunch of generic stuff and I figured he had peaked. I'm still not entirely sure what to think of his ceiling: He has this weird ability to feature on hit songs without getting a solo single off. But I wouldn't be surprised if one of these songs finally broke him. "The Weather", for instance, is awesome. Either way, I'm always rooting for Iamsu! because his self-dubbed nickname is Suzy. So cute!
CG: I still haven’t made up my mind on Iamsu! either. “The Weather” was the one that was stuck in my head but most of this EP is well-balanced and it gives a pretty nice idea of the package Iamsu! could deliver. I'm a feels person, and he's a calming presence.
I have an Iamsu! story that I think about often: One time I was working in another office, and Iamsu! came in and asked, "Is this the [NOT THE OFFICE I WAS IN] office?” That morning I'd been listening to an Iamsu! song, so I remember feeling like I had manifested him, like Samuel L. Jackson in Sphere. But he was just lost, and I told him that the office he was looking for down the hall. “Appreciate it,” he said.
JS: Was it the WorldStarHipHop office? A Coldstone Creamery?
CB: The Walgreen's head office?
RD: Definitely the podiatrist's office.
CB: I like Iamsu! as a pleasantly unambitious presence, kind of like the rest of his HBK cohort. This weekend someone referenced Sage the Gemini's “Gas Pedal” and I was like, “I haven’t heard ‘Gas Pedal’” and everyone was like, “No, no, you’ve definitely heard ‘Gas Pedal’” a million times!" They were correct. I like the idea of rap songs that I love and have heard a million times but that I don’t match up with an identity. For people who live on the East Coast, I think Iamsu! and Sage the Gemini (and Ty Dolla $ign, and even Wiz Khalifa) fill that role.
RD: That brings me to a point I've been thinking about lately: Basically, Drake took this West Coast sound that Iamsu! and Ty$ are putting out there and totaly one-upped them on "The Language" from Nothing Was the Same. Drake does this a lot. I am obviously OK with this because he is taking (largely) mediocre talent/songs and turning them into tracks that are better than anything these dudes will ever make in their entire lives. But does that make someone like Iamsu! more important or less important in a very broad sense, like, is he truly bringing goodness into the world or is he just kindling? Does his existence really matter?! Yes, I have seen "True Detective".
CB: I keep falling asleep during "True Detective". I really like it, but I can’t stay awake for an entire episode. I’m too tired from listening to 25-song mixtapes... [cough cough] Migos [cough cough].
JS: Before we move on, shout out to that time everyone thought Iamsu! was on Yeezus. That was probably fun for Iamsu! This Discobelle headline might be my favorite example of out-of-control Yeezus leak mania.
Migos: No Label 2
RD: The question I asked above about Iamsu! also applies to Migos, really. Drake has ripped them off as well. Not to simply worship at the the Altar of Aubrey here, but I feel like Migos could have learned more from their moment in the spotlight and people stealing their style, and perhaps incorporated some of those rip-offs into their own music. This is rap. Like calling your mixtape No Label is automatically a pretty self-defeating look, made worse by the fact that they spend much of it complaining about being ripped off.
CB: Look at Dombal putting the heat on Migos and bowing down to Drake! Even after expressing lukewarm feelings toward NWTS. While there are several instances of Migos calling people out for ripping off their flow on this mixtape, it seems more likely that it’s directed at scrub rappers and not Drake. Drake is the ultimate peacekeeper.
I would enjoy this mixtape quite a bit if it were six to eight tracks shorter, but I still really like it. They’re using their brute-force repetition to start evoking funnier and odder things, and getting much more referential in their lyrics. I did not anticipate getting the words “Antidope/Banana Boat” stuck in my head. Or hearing them talk about having Iggy Azalea naked in their kitchens.
RD: I agree that "Antidope" is a highlight (and one of the better portmanteaus I've heard recently). That track, and others, displays this virtuosic ability of repeating the same word until it means everything and nothing (time is a flat circle, etc.).
CG: This has a few bright spots but was hard for me to get through. Have they run out of steam? Am I just sick of their style?
JS: "Keeping your momentum going" and "fatiguing your audience with decent-but-not-great mixtapes" is a very fine line. I have no idea if Migos are going to be able to navigate that yet. I like this tape. It's 25 songs. The only 25-song mixtape you could play front-to-back with no skips was probably Drought 3. But good Migos songs are still so crazy and distinctive. "Contraband" has Zaytoven dropping this ominous Bowser's Castle synthetic string loop which let Migos scribble all over the track indiscriminately. Metro Boomin does more or less the same thing on "Ounces". There are tracks as catchy and singular as the bulk of YRN.
CG: Oh, I completely agree. I think there’s plenty of stuff from YRN that fell well short of the high bar set by “Versace” or “Hannah Montana”, like that song where the hook mentions Christian Ponder over and over again. “Emmitt Smith” gets there for me though, very fun song—I love the fantasy of Migos doing NFL play-by-play.
CB: Maybe we should move on from Migos before you guys go off on an Emmitt Smith-spawned sports tangent.
JS: We'd be remiss not to mention the great work done by our colleague Craig Jenkins with the #MigosSaid hashtag. I think if you're looking for evidence that Migos' general ridiculousness is often in service of high-level rap imagery, that would be a really good place to start. I mean: "Lettuce and cabbage and broccoli/ I'm cooking up catfish, tilapia/ And I got flounders/ I'm fucking your bitch on camera." I've been thinking about that line all week.
Lil Silk: Son of a Hustler
CG: Listening to Lil Silk's “Rapper”, I can’t seem to parse how Silk identifies himself. Is Lil Silk the Yellow King?
RD: Yeah, "Rapper" features the line "Lil Silk's a rapper" repeated many times, which made me think, like, "Is Lil Silk a rapper?" Not in some bullshit way, but he really does not possess the traits of most rappers. He is more of a hype man, or just the guy who does amazing ad-libs, than a rapper in the traditional sense. The best comparison I came up with as far as his delivery is: Chris Tucker holding a baby Lil B (essentially an infant Lil B but with an adult Lil B head) while running over hot coals.
JS: That sounds like a bankable sequel to that Wayans Brothers movie where one of them plays a newborn. But this tape is kinda interesting. He definitely has a distinctive voice. I got on a Q train two mornings ago with a bunch of teenagers on a field trip and the car sounded more or less like "Party Anthem"—just a bunch of squeaky voices attacking you from every angle. On the other hand, "Party Anthem" doesn't sound any different than the other tracks here, which is sort of an issue.
RD: Agreed it is a serious issue. This is like the dark side of being Based: Anyone and everyone thinks they can make propeller noises for 50 minutes and call it a mixtape. Don't get me wrong, Lil Silk makes excellent propeller noises. But I'm not sure if that'll get him too far beyond opening for Carrot Top 2 (adult Carrot Top with Lil B baby head) at Chuckles Laugh Factory in Mineola, Long Island.
CB: I think one way he can leverage his ability to make excellent squeals and propeller noises into better music is to choose more interesting producers. As it stands now, he’s just got great fringes and tassels on pretty middle-of-the-road rap music. If I were going to make a #normcore reference in this installment of Mixdown, I would do it here.
JS: For the second week in a row, we have breaking news during a taping of Mixdown. There's a new Black Portland outtake called "Parade" that sounds awesome. Young Thug over midi horns is my platonic ideal of inspiration.
RD: Yeah this song is better than anything on these mixtapes.
[Corban, Carrie, and Jordan hear a clang behind them like a metal plate hitting the stone floor they're standing on. All three whip their heads around nervously, see nothing. They turn around slowly. "Ryan Dombal" is gone.]