Hailee Steinfeld, a dynamo on screen, continues to be a personality-less voice in the music world.
Hans Zimmer, with a shameless attempt to score his first “Best Song” Academy Award nomination (he’s a mainstay in the Original Score category). It’s impossible to predict the Oscars…but I don’t think this will be the ticket, Hanzy.
Rick Ross Rick Rossing, this time turning in a sort of companion piece to “Gucci Gang”, what with the number of times “Green Gucci Suit” is bellowed over and over and over and over and over and over and over and where was I? Ah yes: His proudly-irreverent tone is clearly contagious, elevating the customarily-customary Future.
Jaden Smith, channeling his best G-Eazy impression.
Speaking of whom, here’s the man himself — with an impressive guest duo — channeling his best Dillon Francis impression. A rapper whose productions stand toe to toe with a DJ’s best work is a rare breed. Mr. Eazy (lol) is now responsible for two of my favorite beats of the year.
Speaking of whom, and on second thought: very few can scale the heights of Francis’ musical insanity. You don’t even need to delve into his literally off-the-wall productions — the musical ball that is one of his songs bounces off every wall of imaginable sonic influences — to recognize the craziness. Just look at the track name and artwork. I’m not even sure if a hop-hopper could successfully rap over such lunacy. There’s a reason Francis’ songs rarely contain copious vocals; his ridiculous producing can only work as the main course, no musical complement necessary, or even possible.
Speaking of whom again, and just kidding: here Francis shows how to merge his peculiarity with mainstream rapping, putting his inimitable touch on the “song of the summer.” But he doesn’t really combines the two simultaneously; he treats the vocals as mere transitions connecting his absurd drops. Hot take: This version is better than the original, which I will go to my grave insisting is NOT the song of the summer. How can such an esteemed distinction be doled out to a song that so heavily relies on a mostly unchanged pre-existing sample, accompanied by Minaj-lite, an admittedly-savvy persona that nevertheless comes through on every Cardi creation, many of which are better than this one.
I’ll get off my soapbox now.
WRITE ALL NITE 