A couple weeks back the east Atlanta rapper Father of the Awful Records crew sent a Snapchat of a web browser showing a woman gleefully playing with a dildo. I viewed it a couple of times in an attempt to make sense of this social media manna and noticed that of the tabs open, one was Father's own Soundcloud. Though his Snapchat is full of typical touring-artist moments this particular one captures the playful, laidback mood of his highly sexual work.
Father, despite being the leader of the Awful Records crew, is unguarded about being a late comer to music, offering that most of what he’s learned has come from working with those around him. Even with a nascent musical proclivity, this year, he's released four brief projects (Teen Gohan, L1l Daddy, Young Hot Ebony and Brawl EP in collaboration with Richposlim), the underground hit "Look At Wrist" with Key! and ILoveMakonnen, and a whole slew of guest verses. Father’s humorous (albeit crass) and distinctly personal sense of the body, be it his own or anothers, shines through in all of his music. On the title track of Young Hot Ebony, he raps "Lean and Sprite we’re all lost/ Jeans and tights are all off/ Black as fuck we’re all Goths." The music gives off a tangible sense of black bodies interacting, not simply sex as a stage for male dominance when the topics of money and violence are exhausted.
Young Hot Ebony relishes sexuality. The cover features a picture of a woman with popsicles around her face, like she’s holding multiple dicks, playing on porn imagery. This sly wink, apparently, wasn’t caught on by digital music distribution chains, that, ironically enough, blurred the cover. Like Father’s music, it walks the line between self-assured seriousness and smirking, obvious and subtle.
The morbid Young Hot Ebony cut "2 Dead, 6 Wounded" delivers a third person account of a tragic homicide with a devilish grin. His chirpy ad-lib of the phrase "Georgia scorcher"—in reference to a child being burnt alive—and an IDGAF attitude might appear cruel, but, much like the cover of Young Hot Ebony, shock value isn’t the goal. It’s looking for a laugh in a place where most rap either music treats the topic with casual dispassion or moralizing self-importance. Father’s treatment is akin to his recent Snapchat of him fingering an electrical socket; poking and prodding at different ways to express ideas that might make people uncomfortable, but, from his perspective it's just another day in east Atlanta.
That expression works even for the sake of humor on the goofy "OMG, Her Butt", which sounds like a stopwatch playing in reverse as Father runs with the bizarre premise of the song’s title. After some leering and even detailing meeting a woman’s parents ("I think your parents finally realized I’m the Omen/ Good I didn’t want to fake another moment") there is a pause in the track. As if Father’s not even sure if he can get away with what he just said and needed to reassure himself that he can.
Father’s fluid line-by-line examination of one’s self is notable, his mix of self-confidence and doubt is welcome. On "180" he mentions eating ass, as just a matter of personal preference; the frankness of that moment feels significant, especially given how often we lose the artist in these discussions of rap and sexuality. That’s what makes it hard to not smile when, on "Dame Fuego", he raps, "My might license renewed/ Get some ice and some jewels/ Might finger my wife by the pool/ Cause life is so cruel." If life is gonna be anything, it might be in the mundanity of those lines; it’s just kind of beautiful.