Rap Blog is a weekly showcase of a standout rap song.
Rapper-singer wokeups is best known for his stylings as an Autotune maverick and the most prominent face of diary, an offshoot of pluggnb. Its sound is marked not only by its angelic, maximalist instrumentals and chipmunk-pitched vocals, but also by the stream-of-conscious, quasi-confessional lyrics. For his latest single “aint een know,” wokeups has released what might be his best song to date, its instrumental a cacophony of gummy worm synths wriggling beneath digital violas (shoutout to frequent collaborator Symelz for yet another dreamy soundscape).
Unphased by the hyperactive beat, wokeups coolly keeps pace, melodies spilling over from one measure to the next. Whereas his breakout single “fragged aht” placed his vocal riffs front and center, “aint een know” is more restrained, drawing the ear to the distinctive ways wokeups rephrases the particulars of the rapstar lifestyle.
Listening to wokeups skate across a track is always a treat, but here he’s especially funny (“you don’t mean nun to me like a pet gerbil”) and transparent (“She can’t bearrrr it, she can’t bear the hard truth / whispered in her ear, ‘I don’t fuckin’ waaant you’”), carrying around 50 pounds of cash and comparing face shots to dermal piercings. But if I had to pick a favorite line, it would have to be the 1,2-whiplash of, “I done seen some things that I can’t unsee / I love fuckin old hoes, I’m like ‘hey auntie’” — no matter how hard life storms, wokeups will crack open that silver lining.
