But in the ever-sharpening contrast between Slim’s rugged strip-club-prowling persona and Swae’s cosmic loverboy vibe, Rae Sremmurd recall another irreverent Southern rap duo. Rae Sremmurd embraced their role as the eccentric, freaky-fashioned emissaries of feel-good hip-hop, and with their chart-topping 2016 smash, “Black Beatles,” the duo crafted an infectiously melodious trap anthem that invoked the Fab Four as a yardstick for their own world-domination dreams. the Mike WiLL Made-It imprint to which they signed). Atop a chiming Mike WiLL Made-It beat, the Tupelo-reared fraternal duo of Slim Jxmmi and Swae Lee let loose with an excitable, squealing flow that was as delightfully disorienting as their handle (a reverse spelling of EarDrummers, a.k.a.
The coming-of-age and kinetic SremmLife reminds listeners that jumping into "poppa's chair" was a thrilling mix of pride and new opportunities, plus, the album doubles as a guaranteed party soundtrack.In a hip-hop landscape dominated by lo-fi mumble rappers and woozy Future-isms, Rae Sremmurd’s 2014 debut single, “No Flex Zone,” hit like the high beams of an 18-wheeler lighting up an interstate at night. There are moments when the LP feels a bit rushed, but there's also more refinement and purpose here than expected from such a supernova act. Big Sean's feature lands on "YNO," a crucial cut that's one-part zombie walk, one-part come-up anthem ("Tokyo drift through the hills/Used to have to walk, no wheels").
SremmLife can also be a surprisingly diverse and sure, as "Throw Some Mo" saddles up next to a strip clubbin' Nicki Minaj with so much swagger that no one will bother to check these kid's I.D.s. Stoned roller "Lit Like Bic" is just happy to sit in "poppa's chair" now that these teens are entering their twenties, then "Up Like Trump" spits out witty bits like "I do my own stunts" and "wear my hat to the front, like I drive a truck," and like everything here, it's highly infectious. That latter hit put Rae Sremmurd (or Ear Drummers backwards, a reference to producer Mike WiLL Made It's record label) on the cover of a Marvel comic book relaunching Captain America as a racially diverse title, and in this case, the hype machine and talent work in tandem as SremmLife surrounds its hits with worthy follow-ups.
They aren't so gangsta, and their early hits came with arguably "positive" messages when compared to folks like Chief Keef, as the brilliant "No Type" ("I ain't got no type/Bad bitches is the only thing that I like/You ain't got no life/Cups filled with ice and we do this every night") is a booty-fueled ode to keeping one's mind open, while "No Flex Zone" believes it's better to be a "trill ass individual" than a crowd follower. Looking like a combination of Kriss Kross and Das Efx while sounding like neither, Tupelo, Mississippi rappers Swae Lee and Slim Jimmy came on hard in 2014, taking Migos' bright style of trap music and adding a little of David Banner's sway to the bottom end.