Lil Uzi Vert – That Way 

Maybe it’s just the cabin fever from these coronavirus ‘stay at home’ orders kicking in but I’m enjoying Lil Uzi’s Backstreet Boys beat/hook jack way more than I expected to or should. While I had long adhered to The Martorialist’s decree of not taking rappers with nose rings seriously (with the exception of ALLBLACK  and maybe a couple of others), I can’t lie, Uzi is finally starting to grow on me; the production and some of the melodies on this ‘Eternal Atake’ album and the outtakes album he put out right after are fire and I love the album cover.

I never expected to hear a rap song interpolating the Backstreet Boys’ I Want it That Way that contains the line ‘They laugh at me because I’m Emo’, let alone enjoy it, but here we are. It’s like rap, 90s bubblegum pop from a ‘Now That’s What I Call Music’ CD and goth all joining forces and coming together as one. The song drops off a bit in the second half but the big bombastic hook saves it.

There’s just something almost triumphant about the way Uzi chooses such an unexpected/difficult to execute concept to close the album, makes it a hit, and croons ‘If I wake up don’t make no money that’s a sad day, 2500 for the shirt that’s what the tag say’ all over it.