Trap is a music that causes a lot of problems for hip-hop heads and critics, because it ignores the conventions of hip-hop. It is music whose purpose is the beat and the atmosphere. In most cases, all vocals on top must succumb to the production. But in some instances we find rappers whose versed based extirpations make an impact alongside the beat. This is the case with 18 year-old Father Jii from the DMV area. He makes perfectly clear, he couldn’t care less if his tracks are a critical or commercial success right now. His stories have been told, his point has been made, and whatever happens next happens.
Consider him the anti-conventional. But there is one caveat to all this, maybe even two or three: his producers on “Spaceship Ft T-rel” (Prod. TKAY) and “Rockstar” (Prod. therealdjsmuv), are insanely talented. They take the aggression and bombastic nature of the basslines and marry it to the grim, somewhat classical influenced synth programming.
In the process they create these massive edifices of bass kicks and hand claps that don’t pretend to be anything but trunk bangers. They are so filled with minor details that you have to pay attention to catch it all.
Put these tracks back to back, and they explain what makes Father Jii so endearing as an artist. The Father Jii experience is so visceral and flexible that to try and dissect its purpose feels too scientific, too glacial. Each song has a very clear and definable goal and accomplishes it in the most efficient way possible.
Rock music has its fair share of signature opening riffs. It is filled with the sounds of artists kicking the door in on a mass of listeners with something so immediate and raw its influence can be felt immediately. Now rap has one of its own.
The track “Rockstar” has a butt-kicking bassline on which FatherJii rides his rhymes, with a vocal aesthetic that hits like a thundercloud filled with crackling energy. This eighteen year old dude turns in a universally great microphone performance with his unique flow that will be recognized by a majority of rap fans.
His confident declaration “Im a rock star shh” hits with such an impact that it expresses an entire universe of thoughts in 5 words, without lingering on the subject for too long.
FatherJii has a quaint, deadpan narrative style, on “Spaceship” Ft T-rel, and his story is impeccably delivered for the way it’s written. The track is immediately engaging and most of the credit goes directly to FatherJii. But T-rel makes sure he’s on the same page, which keeps the spacey trap vibe palpable throughout the song.
What matters in this genre is your charisma and the quality of your production. But on this track Father Jii shows that he is also capable of constructing entertaining wordplay and being clever. Anyone looking for some lyrically dense trap with low-slung banging beats in tandem can do little harm in checking this out.
OFFICIAL LINKS: SOUNDCLOUD – TWITTER – INSTAGRAM
