Rap Blog is a weekly showcase of a standout rap song.
skaiwater’s music typically explodes tradition at the seams, but “wolf” follows in the grand lineage of “Fancy” by Drake and “Pyramids” by Frank Ocean, a paean to falling head over heels at the strip club. You know the setup — skai is splurging, their lover is earning, when the night is over they’re leaving together — and the punchline: you don’t even know my name! The thrill is in the movement.
There’s the lush instrumental, co-produced by skaiwater alongside Julius Noah Mariah Herald and Elkan, a burbling bed of synths that reminds me of these old light up waterfall paintings draped in a tender string section. It’s the sort of song that might make you call your bank up for a dancer even if you aren’t trim trim with racks to spare, about the sort of woman who can make skaiwater max out their credit card even though they do have racks to spare.
Rappers are prone to commodity fetish, but skaiwater is alway careful to suffuse these images with emotion. Look back to last summer’s #gigi: consider the green Mercedes of “bleach” is less a car note flex than a means of escape, or how turning down a golddigger’s demands made skai dejected rather than furious on “princess.”
The heart of “wolf” has another separate, more fun-loving chamber embodied by its gabber-indebted bridge, deftly helmed by “Swag&B” singer/FADER favorite RADA. The placid surface of the song ripples, surges, detonates. #mia — that is, #manic #in #america — is littered with these sort of genre pumpfakes, but none feel quite as electric as this.
