D5NCIN”>
Paxslim is simultaneously a swag rapper obsessed with stunting and a diligent artist preoccupied with walking in his purpose. “Do not think I’m going somewhere, yes, I’m just ‘round here to stay” he raps in a pinched staccato on “MOTIVATION,” a song midway through the Nigeria-via-Switzerland artist’s new album D5NCIN where a drill-ready piano riff is buoyed by a rash of syncopated handclaps. Although his instrumentals frequently crib from Atlanta trap and Afrobeats, the juxtaposition never feels trite or tired, pushing drum patterns from the continent up against more familiar sound kits. The net result is a distinct sonic palette that filters and refracts U.S. hip-hop through global music, equally indebted to Lex Luger and “Le Beirut.”
The album’s front half hews a little closer to straight trap, but the back half in particular is rife with wooden polyrhythms deployed with the explicit aim of moving your hips. “This some real dance music,” Paxslim chants on the chipmunked hook to “IF YOU KNO;” the sinuous bounce of “NO WAHALA” seems readymade to slot next to reggaeton and dancehall tracks. Think of D5NCIN as a Saturday night soundtrack for clubs from Beijing to Berlin that just might inspire you to be a better person come Sunday.
We get a glimpse into the 22-year-old rapper’s glass-half-full grindset early on interlude “LETS NOT DRIFT AWAY:” The road to a man’s destiny may be rough and tough, but the destination can be great… As far as advice, “keep going” is beyond cliche, but Paxslim isn’t trying to be an inspirational speaker; instead, his jetsetting verses scan as deliberate manifestation rituals. For Paxslim, being chosen is a responsibility rather than a lottery ticket, and so D5NCIN is littered with details that set him apart from his contemporary peers. On “HOLY LIFESTYLE” he brags “you will never see me geeking;” even a more casual track like “JUST HERE TO PARTY” can’t quite evade the hustle (“I been trying to make it shake, and that’s why I’m always locked in”).
Since 2019, Paxslim has been mining a vein of melodic trap chiefly modeled after Sahbabii and Duwap Kaine. But where those Atlanta rappers’ music often feels delightfully low stakes, Paxslim’s output is decidedly more dramatic, cloaked in the regal pomp of swelling strings and emotive synths. Pax’s sound was already coming into focus on the 2021 mixtape H.G.P. (Hands Got Potential), a collaborative project with Swiss producers Modulaw and Xzavier Stone. The beats are polished and hard-hitting, if not exactly groundbreaking, but they sound lush and full; more crucially, they offer something close to a neutral palette for the emerging rapper’s flows and tics to bloom, never so busy as to outshine the main attraction.
Since connecting with his go-to producer Haram in 2023, Paxslim has been working towards the blockbuster spectacle of albums by artist-auteurs like Travis Scott or Kanye West while burrowing into a sonic niche all his own. Their 2023 full-length HOLY still bears evidence of the duo’s preoccupation with club-friendly music, i.e. “Paxtown” interpolating Sexyy Red – but their March EP DBD5 (dayz before d5ncin, presumably a Scott reference), marked a meaningful shift in Haram’s production on Paxslim’s solo work. The riddims of “Powers” and “Everybody” in particular are evidently downstream of Haram’s production and mixing work for Odunsi (the Engine) on last year’s LEATHER PARK VOL. 1, layering organic counterrhythms over more straightforward 808s. Even the spacier cuts, like EP intro “Nirvana,” seem to take pride in coating their glossy synths in a thin layer of sonic grime (fade-outs, adlibs, shimmering SFX), like zooming in on the dirtcaked tires of an all white Rolls Royce.
Paxslim often raps as though his larynx is constricted, in a fluttery falsetto that you could analogize to Playboi Carti babyvoice or perhaps autotune-drenched digicore popstars. That helps his tenor to cut through dense instrumentals like a sprinkle of acid livening up a fatty meal, sitting high in the mix. His delivery and lyricism has obviously sharpened with practice, best exemplified by his feature on Odunsi’s “POKER,” one of my Top 10 Rap Songs of 2024. That verse ripples with the same sort of stoic optimism that animates D5NCIN, from the first bar where Pax quavers, “a positive miiiiind / keeps me on my griiiind” to the last, where he predicts, “heading towards greatness, ain’t nothing like them” over a poignant bed of strings.
On one level, this week’s bombastic D5NCIN feels weirdly on trend – the music of late 2000s Atlanta has become a muse for everyone from JT (“OKAY”) to Playboi Carti (“LIKE WEEZY”) in recent years. But on trend doesn’t mean passé, and Paxslim isn’t the sort of rapper to phone it in anyhow. So on “NO WAHALA,” the blasé complaint of being born in the wrong generation is easily updated to “F this Gen Z shit, I wish I was born in the 80’s;” when Pax smirks, “I know I’d be doing this and that,” you can practically see his brow wiggling with joy over the implied sales of fishscale. Elsewhere: “I got God on my side, n***a I don’t believe in luck,” he eyerolls over the dirge-like organ and blooping synths of “FLORIDA’S FINEST.” Later on that track, he’ll toss off the silly, almost-inscrutable one liner, “And I’m eating ice cream with you but you not my best friend.”
The album’s sole feature comes courtesy of French rapper Sherrifflazone, whose music runs DMV crank through Duolingo in much the same manner Serane does plugg. In that sense, he’s a natural counterpart to Paxslim, whose music similarly refracts regional American music through the prism of Afroeuropean influence. The pair trade elastic verses on “PAC FLIP,” Sherriff’s Francophone bars offering a brusque counterpoint to Paxslim’s English-language raps. Elsewhere, Paxslim coasts over the bombastic horn section of “JUST HERE TO PARTY,” which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Ken Carson album, and deliberately stalks through a thicket of plodding drums and mystified piano on “NO TROLLS,” shrugging, “my bad for hurting your feelings, you triggered.” When he coos, “I been having a good time, I don’t see no trolls,” he sounds even more triumphant than the song’s insistent instrumental.
The album’s intro segues immediately into the thereminic swag of “2 WEEKS,” where Paxslim saunters forth over pizzicato strings, synthetic brass, and sampled crowd roars. “It get cold outside, n***as moving shivery,” Paxslim begins, his voice building in volume as the song unfurls. “We been having motion n***a (hah), what the F is fame?” he muses. When the beat finally drops in, 808s going hammer and hi-hats scrabbling across every measure, Pax’s rapping diligently maintains pace, assured you’re already paying attention to every word. Woah / Woah / It took me like two weeks, he crows. Later: “Wait / you know I’m taking no breaks […] I could’ve been dropped my tape, my bad for the delay.” Things can happen pretty fast when it’s your moment to shine, but Paxslim has been training to seize the moment for years.
