Rap Blog is a weekly showcase of a standout rap song. Follow our playlists on Apple Music and Spotify.
It’s hard to imagine bronclair aspires to airwave domination, but sometimes his melodic impulses veer so perfectly pop I can’t believe his songs aren’t playing on Top 40 radio. Euphoric from the first downbeat, lakepine’s dreamy sample chop on “Around the world” keeps your head bobbing, accented by naturalistic drums and gossamer chords. Sliding perfectly through the pocket, bronclair’s AutoTune flow stretches vowels into earworms and kneads bars until their syntax sticks in the memory, like when he lets his guard down to confess, “lookin’ at you hopin’ that you say ‘let’s work it out.’”
The direct, transparent songwriting matches the clarity of his fluttering vocals, so when he exhorts, “I know life is a struggle, but shit you gotta endure,” it feels personal, not pedantic. It helps too that bronclair isn’t really worried about flexing on anybody: he might brag about sold out shows, but he sounds more excited about falling in love with the process and trying his best than anything else. He’d like to take you across the globe, but for now, he’ll settle for running around the beach together, “wind all in your hair.”
