After flirting with fame on "Tuesday," iLoveMakonnen has settled into a more comfortable lane in the left-field of Atlanta rap, getting back to the bedroom basics of his early material. On his new collaborative EP with Ronny J, he goes everywhere from emotional balladry to dark, noisy freestyles. "Kick It," the closing track on the project, is one of the heavier records, featuring some big bassy synths that could easily shake a car. The rhymes are authentically off-the-dome, as Makonnen naturally pauses, stumbles, and the like as he lets the words flow through him. It gives the song an emotional urgency that hits its peak when he begins to eulogize his friends in the second half. "I wasn't proud of what I did / Man I had fuckin' frowns / I lost so many fuckin' friends / I buried them in the ground / I've been crying, I've been crying so many fuckin' years," he raps. This is as raw as it gets.
Listen to the full project here.
Quotable Lyrics:
Plus my mom, plus my mom
She was single mom
She had three kids
She had to get it on her own
Once I finally found out
What was really goin' on
I told my momma sit down
And I'mma get you new home