Pitchfork writer Alphonse Pierre's rap column cover songs, mixtapes, albums, Instagram freestyles, memes, weird tweets, fashion trends—and anything else that catches his attention.
Nothing can make me close a YouTube tab faster than a Giannis Antetokounmpo bar. I have no personal agenda against the Milwaukee Bucks star. in my book, he's still in the same MVP category as cute Serbian Nikola Jokić, but please, rappers, please use your imagination. In recent years, Giannis has taken the torch from Steph Curry as the go-to point of reference in basketball for rappers who have faced too many rants to think about anything else. (The only thing lazier might be the awesome punches Ike and Tina.) Of hip-hop's one percenters, like Drake and Kanyein every other song in the milwaukee and michigan rap scenes, there is no escape.
Not to mention that John's greatest lyrics already exist. Freddie Gibbs did it better in 2019 when rapped“The Real Gs move in the silence like John/My Greek Freak, we had an adventure in St. Thomas,” stretching a throwaway line to a vibrant image. And, of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't mention BabyTron's “Jesus Shuttlesworth“, where he raps, “I had a better season than Giannis, I got my Bucks up.” (He looks out the window and thinks back to when the ShittyBoyz used to rap music in 80s aerobics class.) On the surface, this looks like the kind of line I'm arguing about, but, as the mic drops the top of Detroit scam-rap, it's perfect.
For better or worse, I know I'm under the spell of Hurricane Wisdom's catchy track, “Giannis,” because I'm willing to put aside all my petty gripes and enjoy the Florida rapper's soul cleansing. On the hook, one of my favorites this year, the wounded singer heartily sings, “Thirty-four, feel like Giannis/Dirty pole, big as Giannis,” and even though I've probably heard this reworked countless times, it's never sounded better. . Why? Because Wisdom, from Havana (a tiny suburb of Tallahassee), combines the tropical bounce of Florida street rap with the ballad tenderness of Southern and Midwestern truths. And the instrumentation—flickering percussion and scattered, Broward County steel drums fused with slow-mo, almost G-funk synths—is both brooding and upbeat. It's all topped off by Wisdom's racy melodies as he seamlessly switches between aggressive attitude and sunshine-struck lights.
from our partners at https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/hurricane-wisdoms-giannis-is-the-feel-good-florida-anthem-of-the-moment
