Never Get Comfortable
December 4, 2014 7:23 AM   Subscribe

“Just two months ago, Detroit native Dej Loaf was a janitor at a Chrysler plant in the suburbs. She often tackled dirty bathrooms, floors and overflowing trash cans. Now she's slaying tracks as one of the rap game's rising stars.” Interview with a local newspaper, plus YouTube link to one of her videos.
posted by saintjoe (17 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
No relation to Meat, I presume.
posted by IndigoJones at 7:43 AM on December 4, 2014 [4 favorites]


I've only heard bits of "Try Me" here and there, but there's something about its chill tone combined with Keyser Soze-level aggrandizement that just gets this tune buried in my head and won't leave. It's awesome.
posted by Think_Long at 7:50 AM on December 4, 2014


Halfway through "Try Me" I was like, eh, it's good, but she's not really my style of MC. But for some reason I kept listening and it is now apparent that it is an earworm of the first order.
posted by 256 at 7:56 AM on December 4, 2014


Those glasses are fresh.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:28 AM on December 4, 2014


Second song in this tube is better. "Fuck these Hipsters" is a great rap line.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:29 AM on December 4, 2014


Full mixtape
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:33 AM on December 4, 2014


MetaFilter: Fuck These Hipsters.
posted by davidmsc at 9:05 AM on December 4, 2014


the appeal of this music escapes me totally. i wonder if the fact i'm old, white and raised in the midwest on led zeppelin plays a major role in that?
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 9:16 AM on December 4, 2014 [4 favorites]


Maybe, but Eminem also fits that description.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:29 AM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]


Easy Love is also a great track by her.
posted by yeahwhatever at 9:46 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]


i wonder if the fact i'm old, white and raised in the midwest...

Being in much the same position, I make a pretty deliberate effort to try to appreciate hip hop music and culture: the expression of American communities that I'll never be a part of. If nothing else, it would embarrassing to be yet another fat ol' white person who thinks their cultural tastes are post racial because they love 40-year-old jazz and Melle Mel ("But, but, ...The Roots!" just no)

That said, and while I know I'll never understand the pressures that force young people into violence and gangs, the more kids I deal with who are trying to escape that situation, the less appreciation I have for those who celebrate it. For my own tastes, at least, I think I'm OK with putting rap videos with pistols, Bloods colors, and "heads in pasta" in the same bucket with torture porn movies and FPS bloodbath video games. I'm not going to try to convince anyone they're wrong, but they're sure as hell not for me.

The damned autotune doesn't help either, but I think we can still blame Cher for that.
posted by CHoldredge at 10:46 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]


heads in pasta? is that a Mafia thing?
posted by thelonius at 11:08 AM on December 4, 2014


>the more kids I deal with who are trying to escape that situation, the less appreciation I have for those who celebrate it

By now, you have probably figured out that some celebrators are merely clueless opportunists taking cues from what sells, but I believe most individuals celebrate as a coping mechanism. What better way to process adversity than to believe you want it, thrive in it, and are proud of it?

To listen to hip hop is often to listen to desperation. But how wonderful is it to take part in the aspiration element? Hip hop is unique in that it is reflexive. The artists comment on their circumstances in real time, more or less. Talking about their surroundings helps them escape. Talking about their ambition is the manifestation of their ambition. There is something wonderfully American about it. Good on you for listening with open ears.
posted by Don Don at 1:25 PM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]


warning: music you hear may not directly speak to your personal upbringing, experience, or values, and that's okay
posted by wikipedia brown boy detective at 3:20 PM on December 4, 2014


"Try Me" is a great pop song. I find it endlessly listenable.

For my own tastes, at least, I think I'm OK with putting rap videos with pistols, Bloods colors, and "heads in pasta" in the same bucket with torture porn movies and FPS bloodbath video games.

To each their own. I put that sort of hip-hop in the same bucket as Westerns, murder ballads, mob movies and crime novels, and I love it.
posted by Bookhouse at 5:30 PM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]


I first heard this song last week while watching a vine of a dude walking over the front of somebody's car. He's funny and has other vines so I laughed and then looked up the song and found it on soundcloud. I didn't realize there was a video out for it. I've only listened to two of her songs. 6 months from now I will probably have forgotten this mixtape existed. It's pretty likely just a novelty for the moment.

I can't believe it's about to be 2015 and anybody is even thinking of having the whole "what is this whole rap thing" conversation from the late 1980's. Good god. Grow.
posted by cashman at 8:06 PM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]


(I realize that a better way to approach this would be to keep linking different songs in these threads, that exemplify all that is awesome in hip hop. Post songs that have fantastic lyrics and music, from artists that care about their craft and continue to put out quality work, regardless of whether or not anybody pays attention. But after a while this shit gets annoying, trying to lead horses to an ocean of great music).
posted by cashman at 2:16 PM on December 5, 2014


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