It has been a strange year for hip-hop. Tough-guy rappers like Tyler, The Creator and 21 Savage are opening up about their feelings, the "Cash Me Outside" girl snagged herself a deal with Atlantic Records and one of the biggest songs of the summer had people chanting, "All my friends are dead." Perhaps the most curious case, however, is the rise of a 17-year-old rapper with a killer catchphrase and an obsession with Miranda Cosgrove.
Lil Pump has been on the scene for about a year now, but his popularity is starting to peak with the release of his debut self-titled album. Naturally, I jumped into his new music to see what all the buzz is about and ended up listening to some of the most mindless noise on the market. After two songs, I got the gist of Lil Pump's entire formula for creating rap music. By the time I got to the song, "D Rose," I started to lose brain cells. His hooks sound like a parody of other trap songs, he has virtually no sense of lyricism and his subject matter is unoriginal and has already been covered by far superior artists.
So, why do I like his album so much?
As inferior as Lil Pump's music is in conventional terms, he actually has a lot going for him. The production of his most popular songs like "Flex Like Ouu" and "Gucci Gang" is incredible and he makes good use of beat throughout his flows. He also brings a variety of energy levels to his songs; most have a laid-back vibe, but Lil Pump can also hype up his audience with tracks like "Crazy" and "Iced Out."
Most importantly, however, is that people can enjoy Lil Pump simply because he's not meant to be taken seriously. Whenever Lil Pump blasts through the speakers, we can listen easily, assured that it's not time to sit down and carefully analyze the lyrics or song structure. Sometimes we just want to shout out the chorus whilst dancing away our immense stress. Lil Pump doesn't try to market himself as the next hottest rapper or some sort of revolutionary artist. Neither does his fan base.
Actually, that's maybe not entirely true. One of my favorite aspects of Lil Pump's rise to stardom is the "hype" he gets within his online community of followers. Twitter has exploded with discussion about how he dropped out of Harvard to save the rap game and how saying "D Rose" 32 times has a hidden, profound meaning. Perhaps the hype is one big joke, but it does add appeal to Lil Pump's music. If you stop trying to listen to his new album from an analytical perspective, there's a lot to like about Lil Pump. I encourage you to learn a chorus or two next time you need to dance your stress away.
