N0rth4evr, the debut EP of pre-teen rapper-producer and blue-haired nepo princess North West, was always going to be polished. When the 12-year-old announced she’d partnered with Larry Jackson’s gamma for her February single “PIERCING ON MY HAND,” it was clear that the long-standing SoundCloud underground superfan was going to have all the studio time she wanted.
What was less certain was whether that music would feel distinct, or simply mimic her older peers. But on N0rth4evr, North hones her own style of rage rap that pushes past inspiration to carve out her own niche.
That’s most apparent on title track “#N0rth4evr,” a blistering blast of straight up nu-metal that dissolves into a grandiose, Travis Scott-esque breakdown. “Everywhere I go feelin’ like the wrong way,” North warbles through the din. “I can’t even act my age, gotta call plays.” The closest comparisons would be “Flashout Freestyle” by slayr or the punk-rage synthesis of ezcodylee, but only partially – North’s Autotuned headvoice is mixed in a ghostly fashion, as if she’s haunting her own EP.
At a high level, this is the core appeal of N0rth4evr: not style over substance, but style as substance. Consider the Hatsune Miku-sampling closer “Aishite (愛して),” where North opens up about the isolation of fame-at-birth. “They ain’t using me again,” she sighs on the drumless hook. “Can’t be no one’s friend, I can’t let nobody in.” By no means baring her soul, but amidst a cacophony of bludgeoning 808s, a line like, “ain’t nobody finna save me,” sounds as though she’s on the precipice of a pained howl.
North doesn’t shy away from the spoils of her parentage. It’s to her credit that N0rth4evr rarely feels like it’s relying on these riches to shore up her artistic persona. Rather, North would prefer to brag about having cool piercings and being a nocturnal studio rat. Establishing North as a diligent rapper in conversation with less-monied peers prevents the EP from feeling too indulgent, allowing listeners to instead focus on the elaborate production and the delicately poised vocals.
Yes, we’re here because of her parents. But what really makes that “good” or “bad?” What people really can’t stand is a nepo baby who sucks, a person who gets handed opportunities and fails to deliver. On N0rth4evr, West leans on every resource available, from expensive samples to a team of engineers and studio guitarists, in an effort to deliver 12 minutes of fine-tuned pandemonium. You could cynically interpret those assets as an ostentatious display of privilege, but it scans more like North West trying to use every tool at her disposal in service of worldbuilding.
And these samples help to punch up the weight of her pre-teen emotions, which might be the biggest advantage a younger artist can have over their more jaded industry-mates. It’s genuinely cool to see any artist document that in their work, and North West refuses to skate by on cheatcode samples, mutating her source material into something darker and more feral. Adolescence sucks for everybody, but N0rth4evr finds wild beauty in the chaos of growing up.
