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 talking about Kanye's tour, Rich Kidz' new mixtape, and Dev Hynes of Blood Orange's new mix for the Fader.
Yeezy Season
Carrie Battan: You both went to Kanye last night? I went the first night.
Jordan Sargent: Yep, it was a Mixdown field trip to the Yeezus tour. I bought a cheeseburger that had chicken fingers and french fries on it. I asked a lot of questions about it before I purchased it and was not real enough to eat it as assembled.
Corban Goble: I hit the merch stand hard. My mom is going to have the greatest Christmas ever!
CB: The best part of the show for me was being seated next to these incredibly rowdy college bros (or maybe they were European kids?) who were drunkenly cry-singing every single lyric, including (while facing one another) "Your titties, let ‘em out, free at last."
CG: Jordan had a good description of the general audience vibe when he chatted me "fratty bros dressed like hypebeasts." There was like, an Exxon tanker of spilled beer in my section. Had you guys seen Kanye previously?
JS: I saw Kanye earlier this year at the Adult Swim Upfront (those words should not make sense to you), but this was my first time seeing him in an arena. The show was awesome, obviously. I thought it started really strongly—Yeezus material plus stuff like "Mercy" and "Cold" just kills in that setting.
The show dragged a bit in the middle and picked up again towards the end, though there is some cognitive dissonance in watching him rap material like "Stronger" or anything pre-808s. Honestly, my favorite part was that the main stage away from the mountain shook violently when Kanye was really hype. It felt very "California Love" video Terrordome.
CB: I was also pleased to see that Kanye is a good-bad dancer in the same way that he’s a good-bad singer. I thought the show was awesome—FILLED WITH AWESOMENESS—too. I heard some complaints that parts were a bit sloppy and loose, but that wasn’t the impression I got. Or, if there was some sloppiness, it was an organic part of Kanye’s overblown and theatrical approach to arena shows. Corban, how would you compare it to Drake’s show in the same stadium a few weeks ago?
CG: Drake’s show was higher energy. The set is engineered to be a little more fun and loose than Kanye's. Also—I’m borrowing a friend’s observation here—people are just kind of cold on Yeezus, at least in a live capacity. Nothing Was the Same has all this lush, vibrant sound that might play better in an arena setting than the sharp-edged Yeezus sound. I had a great time at both, honestly; Drake’s show was the best I’ve seen him and Yeezus was only a couple hairs off from Glow in the Dark, which was the best show I’d ever seen before that. In conclusion, I’d just hedge my bets and go to both tours if given the opportunity.
Also, I want to say that seeing Tribe, even in a somewhat depleted state, was delightful.
CB: Mixdown is a real bundle of love for A Tribe Called Quest.
JS: If I’m being completely honest, my true favorite moment of the night was when Busta Rhymes came out for "Scenario". He was jumping so forcefully that it looked like he was actively trying to break the stage. It didn’t even matter that they didn’t turn his mic on for the first three minutes. Busta’s music has gotten so humorless in the last several years; it was awesome to see him utterly losing his mind.
Busta also got the biggest applause of the night, even louder than when Kim walked into the V.I.P. Speaking of rich kids…
Rich Kidz: West Side Story
CB: Smooth transition! I’ve only been listening to it for a day but the new Rich Kidz is already one of my favorite tapes of the year, in particular the song "More". We’re at the height of young rappers making music that is, above all, beautiful, and this is especially beautiful.
Rich Kidz are the best at encapsulating feeling both young and old at the same time—they try swag out like grown men and refer to their youth in the past tense ("when I was young") but there's a youthful wink to it, especially with lines like, "My shoes cost more than your outfit." Bragging that your shoes cost more than someone's outfit is like saying, "I’m older and cooler and richer than you, but not by much!"
CG: I’ve liked a handful of RK tracks in the past, but I didn’t anticipate them sticking the landing when moving into more melodic material. They’ve had catchy hooks in the past but I think something like "More" is on another level. I’m not so into the spitball rapping over songs like "Ambitionz of a Ridah" but this is a mixtape and I should probably chill out.
JS: I love Rich Kidz. I loved when "My Life" made Pitchfork’s Top 100 Tracks last year. I love this mixtape. These dudes might be the most melodic rappers in the game aside from Future, who, by the way, should try and make Rich Kidz famous. Like, the outro of "Run It Up" basically sounds like an Usher feature. The production on this tape is consistently bizarre but they float steadily over any beat they choose. These are anthems. "More" is so good. Can we issue a rogue Best New Music?
CB: What is it about Rich Kidz that prevents them from getting either a.) radio play or b.) lots of critical attention? Also, this is the sparsest Wikipedia page I’ve ever seen: "RK4L RICHKIDZ FOR LIFE AINT NO TRADING KOO-KOO. RichKidz consist of two lyricists named Skooly and Yung PU."
CG: I did a track writeup a while back for a RK song and it was impossible to figure out what was going on. I think all these songs stand up on their own but maybe don’t kick you in the face in the way that a song by somebody you’ve never heard of might need to in order to take over your life.
JS: The one thing they need is a song with an obvious catchphrase. They need a phrase as instantly memorable as “Versace Versace Versace Versace” basically. The new crossover is coining a ubiquitous Twitter hashtag.
CB: Let’s hope it’s somewhere on the next Rich Kidz mixtape.
Blood Orange: Fader Mix
CB: Given the nature of the new album, Cupid Deluxe—which feels like a warm mixtape-like collage—the mixtape companion doesn’t add all that much to the picture. I'd probably rather just put the album on. But the one thing I really like about it is hearing Dev Hynes narrate his selections in a radio voice. He can sometimes be a distant figure in his own music, so it's fun hearing his voice straight-on.
CG: He definitely has the right BBC Radio voice, too. I would listen to a sports call-in show he hosted, which is basically what happens at the 50-minute mark.
The big thing I get here about Hynes and Cupid Deluxe is a better idea of what the texture of his music is founded in. He’s always had interesting percussion ideas—I think of that early phase of Blood Orange where he was pulling up a drumbeat he made in GarageBand, hitting play and then building his guitar lines over it. So, it makes a lot of sense to hear stuff like UB40 and Afrikaa Bambataa, "space beats from the 80s!" or something. I also had to seek out that Skepta freestyle he put in there.
The caller is being way too hard on Carmelo, by the way.
JS: Dev should have his own radio station, straight up. One of these days, maybe even 20 years from now. If radio still exists. I think it’s cool that he slips some unreleased stuff in here, it’s kind of humble and endearing in a way—he just wants to be next to his heroes. This mix is a really good time.
CB: He'll have his own podcast—all of us will, actually. P.S.—did you catch the part in the Skepta freestyle where he mentions MySpace views? British people…
Dev Hynes is a sportsman of all kinds. I will leave you with this footage of him playing tennis for VFILES: