“None of this intends to give Michete a free pass for anything”

September 29, 2015 11:44 AM

[R]ising star Shamir recently gave NME a playlist of his favorite recent musical discoveries, and his most lavish praise was for… Michete and his mixtape Cool Tricks, described as “a gift from the ratchet gods.” It’s a description as compelling as most any Shamir song. … If nothing else, [opening track “Rap Game Kimmy Gibbler”] will cause some outrage when Michete—who identifies as transfeminine (she/her/he/his) —concludes the song by boasting that she is “burning all these bitches like my last name Hitler.”… Cool Tricks offers up the new genre of qrap: the versed ribaldry of poor taste—a crassly mouthed “fuck you” to the gay male archetype of the connoisseur.
Andy Emitt writes about “The Worst Queer Rapper You Need To Listen To” for Pitchfork.

Other Pitchfork articles mentioned in the piece:

• “Queer Rap is Not Queer Rap”
• “What Does the White Rapper Owe #BlackLivesMatter?”

posted by Going To Maine (18 comments total)

"Don on the mic like Ninja Turtle incest."
posted by box at 12:24 PM on September 29, 2015 [13 favorites]

well, that was something different.
posted by k5.user at 12:37 PM on September 29, 2015

This is going to be like that time Kid Rock was profiled in Grand Royal before he got famous.
posted by rhizome at 12:58 PM on September 29, 2015

I nominate "qrap" as Worst Word Ever.
posted by tommasz at 1:56 PM on September 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

You think it's a qrap word?
posted by I-baLL at 2:20 PM on September 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

I quite like this. Although my favorite hip hop track by a queer artist (who doesn't like the label "queer rap") remain Mykki Blanco's beautiful, menacing She Gutta.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 2:20 PM on September 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

What is it called in rap when someone in the background says, "Yeah" or "Yum" or "Uh huh?" That portion Michete's songs are my favorite.
posted by zzazazz at 2:31 PM on September 29, 2015

At the very least we can get some interesting intersectionality of Fuck(boy|boi) going.
posted by Candleman at 2:32 PM on September 29, 2015

zzazazz: "What is it called in rap when someone in the background says, "Yeah" or "Yum" or "Uh huh?" That portion Michete's songs are my favorite"

Lil Jon?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 2:49 PM on September 29, 2015 [3 favorites]

What? No cats?
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:30 PM on September 29, 2015

This is bad but interesting. so I guess it's somewhere above Igloo and below Kitty on the Gimmick to Art spectrum.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:56 PM on September 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

^i meant Michete. Shamir is incredible.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:04 PM on September 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

I prefer Michete to Shamir.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:07 PM on September 29, 2015

"What is it called in rap when someone in the background says, "Yeah" or "Yum" or "Uh huh?" That portion Michete's songs are my favorite"

Those are called ad-libs.

Whatever interesting gender, sexuality and race stuff might be going on here, Michete is not a good rapper at all.
posted by still bill at 1:48 AM on September 30, 2015

Yeah, but in a good way. Like it's strangely addictive to listen to. I didn't think "he's a bad rapper - make it stop". I thought "she's a bad rapper - I would like to hear more please."
posted by billiebee at 2:22 AM on September 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

It's funny how people are acting like "good rapper" and "bad rapper" are objective labels that have nothing to do with personal taste or anything.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:17 PM on October 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Of course those are subjective labels. I don't think it's necessary to add an 'IMO' or whatever when presenting what is clearly an opinion.
posted by still bill at 3:52 AM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I think there are objective standards for rap like there are for any other kind of performance. They're not the whole story, but they're part of it.

When people refer to e.g. the complex rhyme schemes of an Eminem, the cool proficiency of a Rakim or the technically-rough but charismatic style of someone like Ol' Dirty Bastard, an objective standard is part of what they're reaching for.

Or, like, if you have two rappers that are otherwise identical, but one uses internal and polysyllabic rhymes and the other does not, or one rides beats while the other strictly stays in line, or one uses tone and modulation and the other is more monotone, I think we can say the first one is objectively better.

There are rap Bob Dylans, where the lyrics and delivery are stronger than the voice, and there are rappers with great voices and flows that don't have a lot to say (let's say Snoop). Rap is large, and it contains multitudes. Not everyone agrees about the precise criteria, but some rappers are better than others in a way that's not just personal preference.
posted by box at 6:15 PM on October 2, 2015 [4 favorites]