I am often a victim of negative self-talk. Trust me, people, you don’t want to know what goes down inside of this twisted cabeza on a daily basis. So, I should probably be listening to “Affirmations” every morning. It’s positive rap that even quotes one of the most saccharine positive rap songs of all time: “I Can” by Nas. I’m not exactly sure if I like it or not, but then again, my reluctance to fully embrace the tune is maybe emblematic of bigger problems in my outlook. I hope Flippa T gets that Peloton bag, though. She deserves it.
American Muscle is an actual rock and roll band. They wear leather jackets and leather vests and denim vests. One YouTube commenter: “Finally, another band! They remember me of Crime.” Another: “This is so cringe.” Young people: don’t be afraid to embrace your sense of cringe every once in a while. Do you really want to be playing in that aloof shoegaze band your whole life? Interesting week of music over here.
Skrillex F*CK U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!!
The new Skrillex record is full-on mixtape EDM chaos. It’s 34 songs in a little over 45 minutes. That mofo even got DJ Smokey to host the thing. If you have a place in your heart for maximal, genre-flipping dance music executed at the highest level—in other words, if you have a place in your heart for Skrillex—it’s not going to disappoint. All the collaborations and the drops are the cherry on top of the dubstep sundae.
Just a good, random Baton Rouge-style rap track that I stumbled upon recently. “What His Name” is less than two minutes long; it gets to the hook twice, and it’s out. I have a working theory: The more embedded a genre is in real geographic space, the more legible its choruses sound to outsiders. A dubious working theory.
Idialedyournumber “Holiday Dog”
Nova Scotia is definitely in the building! On her new record, Idialedyournumber cooks up a particularly Zoomer-fried concoction of Midwest emo and pingy electronica. “Holiday Dog” is on the latter side of the equation. It’s bitcrushed bedroom pop supreme, an anthem for an unremembered age of dial-up, timeless in its lyrical sentiment but contemporary in its nostalgia coordinates.
MIX OF THE WEEK: “RAPRAVE with DJ Godfather @ TheLotRadio 03-20-2025”
Turntablism is a dying art. Outside of the singular force that is Flapjack The Kandi Kid, I haven’t seen a proper display of vinyl skills—beat juggling, scratching—in a minute. Detroit ghettotech legend DJ Godfather is part of the old guard. He might be using Serato, but he is still cutting that shit up hardcore, playing music spanning the long timeline of party-focused electro and techno. It’s April in the D! It’s only right.
That American Muscle video rules all 3 food types.