As far as rappers go, New York MC Desiigner is pretty young. But when you compare his age to his consistently exuberant energy, which would look excessive on anyone older than 10, his 19 years seem absolutely ancient.
A National Geographic nature documentary about his place in Kanye’s G.O.O.D Music label might sound like this:
“Even from a distance, it is easy to see that Desiigner is the youngest of the pack. He moves quickly and without the experience of his older family, who look after him with something between amusement and exasperation. He dabs viciously and constantly, trying either to attract a mate or scare her away forever. God, he dabs a lot.”
Of course, it’s easy to excuse someone’s youthful idiocy when they have a No. 1 single under their belt before graduating high school — a feat made doubly impressive by the fact that “Panda” is a radio-unfriendly slice of faux-Atlanta trap.
But, determined not to peak at an age when some are still reviewing mixtapes for college newspapers, Desiigner decided to expand his catalogue to more than two songs. His latest (and only) release, the knowingly-titled New English is a sprint through dark, aggressive trap songs seemingly desiigned (dab) to induce asphyxiation when you imagine the number of dabs that could be crammed into each song.
In what is probably New English’s smartest move, the mixtape never strays far from the formula set by “Panda.” The vast majority of tracks on the latest Tidal exclusive (Beyonce, you have company) are hooky, repetitive and, by definition, total bangers.
“Caliber,” the mixtape’s first real song, stars rattling trap hi-hats and the auto-tuned litany of “Caliber, caliber, caliber,” launched to high heaven with a force exclamation points will never do justice. In fact, the following handful of tracks all seem like attempts to one-up the previous in terms of energy and no other qualities. The pure adrenaline reaches a breaking point on “Monstas & Villains,” which promises to be the collection’s fullest track, its most direct successor to the controlled chaos of “Panda,” before coming to a screeching halt after just 37 seconds for no explicable reason (though it would be surprising if this track doesn’t pop up on a later Desiigner project in an actually finished form). Only during the tape’s back end — on the Pusha T-featuring “Jet” and the syrupy “Overnight” — does the ADHD-inducing tracklist slow down.
The absurd ardor of New English draws from two sources. Most important to the tape’s sound are the instrumentals, which blend the New Atlanta sound the New York rapper has thoughtfully adopted since day one with the slight baroque touch added to most G.O.O.D. Music releases. While some beats — like “Shooters” and “Wit Me” — prove messy, most provide a perfect backdrop for the second, renewable energy source: Desiigner’s vocals. And for Desiigner, vocals mostly equal ad libs.
The rapid-fire “GIT GIT GIT” and machine gun and/or puking sound effect “GRRRRRAW” are both the mixtapes most frequently used and most recognizable vocal tics — and the music is all the greater for it. In fact, Desiigner’s actual raps are so true to the title “New English” that one might imagine the mixtape is the story of a dystopian world where people only communicate in rap ad libs.
But even if the lyrical depth of the record is, well, nonexistent, New English is Desiigner doing what he does best — verbally vomiting on beats he can later dab excessively to — furthering the theory that Desiigner is the man who singlehandedly forced Quavo to declare the dab dead.
If any track here shows the 19-year-old’s true potential, it’s the almost seven minute epic “Da Day” which breezes by in what feels like three minutes and blends guest verses with the most ad libs ever heard on a rap song. The song is frantic, slightly frightening and sounds as if a single misplaced “BLEGH” will make it splinter into a million pieces. But it’s that insanity that makes the track — and most of Desiigner’s music as a whole — work. These are songs that will drive you crazy — only to have you dab your way right out of a straitjacket.
