Mixtape: Kato's Revenge (unreleased)
Producer: Chris "Kato" Ju of SMKA
Although Jackie Chain's bio insists that he was born as a military-brat to a Korean mother and a white American father, his music suggests he's the surrogate offspring of Pimp C and Dina Lohan. As the most interesting artist to emerge from the Huntsville, Alabama explosion of the late '00s, Jackie is a rapper with an uncanny ability to tear through songs as a tornado of fun and stoopid punchlines. He's been committed to delivering one incredible single every 12 months as he's done every year since he released "Rollin'" in 2008.
Until 2013 that is, when he had a minor-annus horribilis with his patchiest mixtape to date, The Bruce Lean Chroncicles 2; unfortunately didn't even spawn a half decent single. That's not to say his entire year was a write-off, since both "Trippin'" with Rittz and the Atlanta producer collective SMKA's posse cut "Pimpin' Mane" (featuring Scotty ATL & RaRa) were both stellar. Perhaps realizing that these were Jackie's two strongest songs of the year, SMKA's lead-producer Chris "Kato" Ju has given us a best-of-both-worlds situation by inviting Rittz to hop onto the remix of "Pimpin' Mane".
Over a bouillon of 808s, Chicago House piano, and regal synthesizer parps, Kato's expanded cast of "Chads in the flesh" all explain the crucial differences between pimpin' and simpin', with Jackie and Rittz stealing the track by fiddling while Huntsville burns and giving it some real life relatability, respectively. Here's hoping 2014 gives us more songs pairing the both of them.
