UPDATE: Turns out this guy is a rapist.
This is crazy. Unlike anything I’ve heard. It’s like hardcore-rap meets jungle with a phat ass beat that almost ends up sounding like The Prodigy. The punk aesthetic has been co-opted a lot by rappers in recent years – usually in a completely shallow way e.g. Carti – but this song and video actually feel punk in character and spirit. I’m out of my wheelhouse talking about these types of music but it’s a must-listen for anyone who likes any of those things or just likes chaotic bangers.
“I’m a walking pill!”
Ize
Ize is here to provide chaotic energy for it’s own sake and he does that job very well. He’s from New York and his name is ‘-ize’ like the suffix. The song delivers an intensity suitable to it’s alarming title – which feels appropriate as a general statement for the times, as does his performance as someone pushed to the end of their rope finally exploding. Honestly though, all I think he’s saying ‘isn’t a drill’ is how ice cold chill he is. Always a lazy comparison but it reminds me of Death Grips and JPEGMafia. Ize’ first noise of the song sounds almost exactly like MC Ride. It just feels far dancier and dance-inspired than most Death Grips’ stuff. (And I haven’t heard that much Peggy; I like a few songs but don’t really enjoy his rapping.)
The video is cool even if not that original an idea. Smashing stuff in a parking lot. Clones of himself. It’s his physicality and very intense swag that make it great. Where you feel like he could put his head through a wall at any given moment.
Ize’s earlier videos feel like a rapper still in the early internet underground (Awful Records, Metro Zu, Ratking etc.) The types of wonderful, totally unrestrained music being produced around 2010-2015 on an Internet yet to be discovered, utilised and ruined by the music industry and capitalism. Big hoops in his ears in DIY videos, artfully depicting him getting and being fucked up, in a way that matches the druggy aesthetic of the song. His three other songs I could find suggest he doesn’t really have anything to say but gets on cool beats with a sorta captivating, in-your-face style. However, he’s wiped his Instagram and appears to be going in a new direction. He’s got a unique sound and energy, so it will be interesting to see where that new direction goes. Hopefully more boundary-pushing slaps like this one.
‘This Is Not A Drill’ was produced by AceMo, a New York electronic dance producer supposedly making waves in the scene. His biggest song is a smooth lil bop ‘Where They At???’ where John FM is on the mic shouting out as many types of girls as he can think of: short girls, athletic girls, black panthers, sex workers, Estonian girls, Eritrean girls and so on. Luckily done tastefully and it’s genuinely quite sweet.
