MUSIC ARCHIVES

Four, Five, to the Six to the Seven, Midwest Rap in Loopy Heaven

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St. Louis has this thing that it can’t really name. Toya called it Rop—for Rap and Pop. Nelly called it the Midwest Swang, and J-Kwon calls it Hood Hop. But “Tipsy” is the best appellation yet for the woozy, but not dangerously drunken, variant of the two-stepping “We Will Rock You” beat that all these cats lay their nursery rhymes over. Thank stomp-happy producers the Trackboyz for the song’s uncanny appropriation of Timbo’s avant-garde retro-synthism circa “Try Again” and the Neps’ hard “Grindin’ ” minimalism into the mix. Thank J-Kwon himself for appropriating Kraftwerkian counting. Then rest easy knowing that a few more sources of rhythmic danger have been press-ganged into the service of delirious frat-party fantasia.

Highlights