Xaviersobased: Keep It Goin Xav

Once you hear Xaviersobased, you'll want to argue about Xaviersobased. Indifference is not an option as his music turns casual rap concerts into First Take. It's probably because you think his glossy vocals—sometimes pitch-shifted, sometimes so thick they secretly blend in—are absolute crap. In some cases it can turn you into the kind of conservative hip-hop you've been making fun of.

Alternatively, maybe you'll see the light and go on, like me, about how it's a borderline spiritual experience that will have you standing around with crowds of teenagers and skaters after midnight, under the subways, in the warehouse shows with names that are not pronounced on the account or in more formal places (where you might get caught in a riotor you'll end up stuck next to a furry), just to hear this Upper West Side babyface of 20-year-old bloated, totally zapped dance rap.

Two years ago, I was introduced to Xavier's prolific and overwhelming line of mixtapes and SoundCloud loosies with the self-produced “Crisp Dubs,” a lagging, rebooted single that soaks up a sample from the soundtrack of one Online porn game series. It's so limitless that it convinced me I'd just stumbled upon the coolest shit, and I instantly bonded with anyone who felt the same way, which is what underground rap is in a way. Almost nothing else in his catalog sounds like “Crisp Dubs,” but he set the precedent for a style that draws from so many different corners of popular and underground rap and online and local cultures that almost nothing is off limits. He can rap “Slap the shit out of an old nigga if he classist” or a million repetitions of “Two bad hoes in the trap tryna' fuck me.” He can imagine lost again New York subspecies or make a beat that sounds like he hacked his old Soulja Boy GarageBand account. All for the purpose of creating party rap that is infused with the DNA of the party rap that came before it.

Xavier's first (and certainly not last) mixtape of the year, Keep It Goin Xav, is a bottle popping celebration. Sprinkled with clips from his interview with tape host DJ Rennessy—which are mostly annoying because Rennessy lacks the recognizable charisma of memorable mixtape hosts—it's essentially a look-how-far-I've-come project. It's nowhere near as humorless as it sounds, because the music is lively, improvisational and fun. In a way, it's of a lineage with so much of the great 21st-century hangout rap made by people under the legal drinking age, from skater anthems in the rapalongs from bedroom in the Magic City Soundtracks.