Bout to Blow: November 2016 Edition

Image via Complex Original

Though it's more than a year old, Rallo's "Born Bae Bae" only started picking up in his native St. Louis this year, where it became a major record over the course of the summer. It's based around what sounds like a constipated distortion of Lil Reese's "On My Soul" flow. But then he breaks out of its strict confines, rapping about "bumping Future while I'm rapping like Thugger, watching "Baby Boy," I's bout bread and that butter," and making a reference to St. Louis classic "Run Up Get Dun Up."

Few are as frustrated by the Desiigner industrial complex than yours truly; his acclaim is a victory of metrics over common sense. It's an argument that because something is popping, there must be some ineffable reason that is inherently worthy of celebration. Yet for all the talk of his supposed status as a musical savant, little of his music has shown anything like the spark that animated "Panda"—the definition of a lightning strike single (as in, it will never strike twice).

Pusha T, though, seems intent on making sure this won't happen, and he's succeeded thanks to a Ty Dolla $ign stimulus record. Continuing his unblemished résumé of transforming pig ears into undeniable pop records, Ty transforms a familiar hook (which recently propelled a regional rap record into a compulsively listenable hit) with Desiigner's voice, transformed via Pro Tools magic, into an affecting background vocal. Even Pusha, whose rap style has shifted from detached to seething over the last few years, sounds right at home. This is an undeniable record that deserves the unlikely laurels that'll be thrown its way.

There isn't much to this not-quite-two-minute viral hit from Texas rapper Blake. Yet it's just enough to imprint the record on the psyche, a subtle, understated beat and a few basic lyrics that hit that sweet spot of purposeful laziness. Too bad about the YouTube mastering, in which each kick drum hits with a distorted trunk rattle that keeps the song from hitting like it should. It may not be at "First I hopped out the motherfuckin' Porsche" levels yet, but it's reminiscent of T-Wayne's similarly viral Vine hit in its exceptional panache.

2 Chainz is on an unprecedented run, and it helps that he's been consistently underestimated. Of course, he sets that bar himself; there is no artist with as much success and as few ambitions or pretentions about his art than the man formerly known as Tity Boi. This song's lineup and title are a perfect example: a 2016 single called "Good Drank" featuring Quavo and Gucci is the kind of thing Papa Boi might end up recording, the definition of generic. Yet between the song's wistful two-note production courtesy Mike Dean, Quavo's clever hook, and Gucci's well-crafted guest verse, the song transcends its trappings to become a genuine accomplishment for all three artists involved.

R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan recently went semi-viral for friendzoning a dead man, but she should be better known for her unparalleled skills as a songwriter. As if on schedule, Mary J. Blige's Sullivan-penned "Thick of It" dropped last month and immediately became one of her most buzzed-about singles in years. A passionate tribute to real love when times get tough, the song builds up to layered vocal runs that emphasize the dimension of her emotions. It's not about devotion or loyalty, exactly—she seems willing to call the whole thing off—but about commitment to the intensity of her feelings. Like many Sullivan records, it's a clearly-expressed, big-gesture song about complex, complicated emotions. Or as she opens the record, "love ain't just black and white."

Much like when R. Kelly began writing songs inspired by his aesthetic offspring The-Dream on "Echo," there's a bit of snake-eats-tail to T-Pain's new Yachty-featuring single "Dan Bilzerian." While D.R.A.M. certainly has his own musical approach, there's a certain grounded whimsy to his style that recalls T-Pain's more robotocized innovations a decade ago. "Dan Bilzerian," a reference to the famous Instagram icon, ex-soldier, poker player, and woman-kicker, was produced by T-Pain, and echoes "Broccoli" just a bit. Yet it's not an outright bite, and the way T-Pain pronounces "Bilzerian" is apt to get lodged in your skull.

A DC-based rapper whose "Pull Up Hop Out" has been bubbling for a year, WillThaRapper's biggest record to date recently received a music video that highlights his unorthodox use of phrasing. His use of pauses and lyrical twists complement the song's darker atmosphere, giving a familiar sound a hint of the unexpected.

For those of us who have struggled to get with the program on Travis Scott, there's been a few straightforward reasons: Scott not only rejects outright the narrative tenets that make a rapper's words worth following, but he seems to bristle at anything resembling song structure as well. All we're left with is atmosphere, a sound pilfered from the general narcotized sensation of current trap and drill, transformed into an aesthetic that justifies its own existence simply by existing.

Much like "Antidote," which was redeemed by the unforgettable immediacy of its chorus, his remix of Rae Sremmurd's otherwise ho-hum "Swang" works because it adapts his echoing atmosphere to more formal songwriting. The artists complement each other's weaknesses: Rae Sremmurd give his gargling some structure, which Scott cross-hatches with some distorted electronic clouds and colors.

True to its title, Lud Foe's new tape No Hooks will put off hip-hop fans who can only appreciate the form when it intersects with pop. Yet it's largely listenable because many of its lyrics operate as hooks themselves—it's not hard to imagine lines that will end up shouted back at him at concerts. His rapping is, compared with many of his peers, crafted to be the overarching purpose of his writing. "My Ambitions as a Rider" is an exception, though, in that most of the tape his lyrics are written mainly to offer a successive series of adrenaline hits, lines that perpetually up the ante of aggro muscle, to help you lift that last rep or rob that last bank. This record eases off the gas a little bit, although his lyrical style remains fairly intense.

This song from B.o.B. gained an essential piece of the puzzle when Ty Dolla $ign was added to the lineup, coloring in a record which had previously existed in black and white. Based around a similar joke to "Forehead? He's got an eighthead," "4 Lit" is a surprisingly relaxed record about being overdrawn on your sobriety accounts. Nonetheless, T.I. is at his slurred best, allowing the beat and chorus to be the song's real star, a gentle and delicate salute to getting fucked up.