We continue our journey through the trenches of music with a classic cloud rap release: SOULJUH LUV RARI WORLD, by Black Kray, one of the genre's oldest and most idiosyncratic artists.
A founding member of the still-active underground titan that is Goth Money Records, Kray also goes by "Sickboyrari". He's a Virginia native that has been around since the good old Soundcloud days, back before A$AP Mob was huge, before Raider Klan broke up, before it all grew stagnant, unoriginal, corporate. He's collaborated with a number of legends, from Yung Lean to Bones to Oogiemane to Kane Groceries and countless more; his music is equal parts frenetic and narcotic, hypnotically crazy and obnoxious, criminally hard and melodically exciting. His lyrics range from trigger-happy rallying calls to mournful salutes to fallen homies; much like Playboi Carti or Lil Uzi, he's got a vocal delivery unlike anyone else in the game, half-decipherable, so heavily slurred and layered and reverberating that sometimes you can't distinguish him from the beat. Not only that, but he's a character: skinny jeans sagged to the extreme, numerous face tattoos, a slim and mysterious figure squatted up throwing 4's up and speaking publicly almost entirely in emojis and ad-libs.
If you can't tell by now, I'm absolutely enamored by this guy's music. Everything here is so experimental and stylized that it hits all the marks of good trap music and takes it all a bit farther, into the realm of truly great, original music. It's art. I can't say that everything he does is gold - as with most adventurous artists, there's times when the experimental shit hits and times when it falls flat - but from what I've heard of him, SLRW is the most consistent record. Other well-respected tapes, if you're interested, include ICE CREAM & MAC 10S and WORKING OUT DA MUD (collab tape w/ the Working on Dying producers).
"hoes on a mission / and my gold glisten (and my mouth shine) / every time a nigga talk look like my god damn mouf pissin"
"Shynin on Western Ave"
The album begins with "Innah Party Dancing Wid Mah Shootuh". Even before you can hear the repetitive video game sample and hoarse croaking over the crazy 808s, the title of this song takes us right to another stylistic point of Rari's; the universe of his discography is gloriously ridiculous from start to finish, so proudly ignorant it's engrossing, so vivid with every aspect that you're drawn into a whole new world. Like a triumphant hymn, "Shynin on Western Ave" (my favorite song) comes in next; from the very first second Kray is (unintelligbly) spitting over a fanfare-esque sample crystallized in all the surreality of cloud rap. His flow is infectious and hypnotic; the song feels like it could go on forever, or that it should. (Unfortunate note: for some reason, the Spotify version of this song is cut in half, and it just kind of fades out - this is why we still download our music in 2019, guys!)
What follows for the rest of the album is an odyssey of trenched-out angel music, shit that draws you into an alternate reality very densely packed with a range of emotion. Kray shouts out his brothers-in-arms with almost romantic devotion in ballad-like tracks "Better Days Ack" or the self-explanatory "Where Yo Souljahs At Where Yo Souljah Rag"; he cries out in pained heart-rending opioid anthems like "Bleedin Mah Life Away" and the despondent "Atlanta Hood Witch"; and, like every good trap album, he's got energetic slappers like "Stylin Wid Da Tec Pt 2", "Taliban Ave", and "Throw It Back". Kane Grocery's feature in "Running Round" comes right in time to spice things up, but it's the only feature you'll find on the whole record. Thank God Kray knows better than to bloat his work with random features; it does wonders to keep his sound consistent and true.
A good number of songs here are unpredictable things you have to experience rather than bump for a party or something; they'll often build and build with producing elements and vocal layers only to end with you still breathlessly awaiting bass drops, like in the scathing "Codeine Tears In Her Fanta", the woozy "In Club Liv Bo$$y", and the haunting "Holdin Choppahs In HD". When the bass does kick in cuts like "Luh 4ren", you're often left numbly nodding your head in awe at the complexities and the weirdness of the whole sound. It's like trap that's so genuinely faded and hard that it's otherwordly.
dancin wid mah shootah inah party we goin whyyy / throwin 4s up inah sky mah soljuh cryy
-- "Codeine Tears In Her Fanta"
Something about this album as a body of work is just enchanting to me. Like most albums I consider masterpieces, it creates its own little world that you're completely immersed in for the runtime. It's got tons of lyrics and hooks that stay impaled in your head, but it's never poppy or annoyingly repetitive. The whole thing is so achingly mid 2010s that it's charming; in his hazy VHS-quality music videos Kray crouches in gas stations in the hood, wears bucket hats and super tight skinny jeans sagged past his ass, flexes money stacks and throws up lazy gang signs. The value of the whole package only multiplies when you figure out how much Kray's an artist for this; his lyrics are legitimately vivid, fun and swaggering and honest and eerie and mournful all at once. Every single thing comes together to enhance the total Sickboyrari persona; tell me, what other music artist can pull this off that isn't already considered one of the GOATs?
Though he's never been on the forefront of the Soundcloud scene, nor would most people into rap arguably even know who he is, Kray's been a pioneer and an influence for years. Long before trendy goth rappers like Omen XIII or SCXRLVRD started wearing black nails and screaming onto tracks, Black Kray's been doing his own thing, exploring his lane and putting out tape after tape that sounds like nobody else out there. He's got a rabid, loyal fanbase; most who claim to know anything about underground trap yield him some respect, even if they don't bump his shit on the regular.
I don't have anything more to say that hasn't already been said by others before me. From here I'll let the music speak for itself. If you like what you hear and are interested in how Kray continues to branch out (spoiler alert, he does, well) - I've got good news for you. Kray still makes weirdly-awesome music to this day, and he works with so many other different and interesting artists that you could go down the Goth Money Records rabbit hole for weeks. Have fun, and keep those 4's up in the sky for all the shootuhs flyin' high.
DREAM...
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