Steve 'Flash' JuonThere are days where I’m convinced the best way to review rap music is to ride. For Southern rappers this maxim goes double, and for Texas rappers it’s quadruple. Everything is bigger in Texas right? That’s also true for the sound of a great album from the Lone Star State. Sometimes I just want to hop in my whip like the cornball middle aged man I am, turn the volume up and put the windows down, and treat the streets of my city to some Slim Thug and Bun B. It feels right. It feels necessary. It gets my blood pumping. It’s a better boost than any energy drink. I love the feeling of a Texas trill emcee who is feeling himself and talking shit like a boss on a great track.
I’m happy to add That Mexican OT and his album “Texas Technician” to my repertoire. When you get far enough into the South, there’s not much to distinguish a self-identified Mexican like Virgil from his peers — black, white, Asian or otherwise. If you’re in that Southern rap scene and you drop a song like “Bull Riding” with Slim Thug and DRODi, that pimp walk and pimp talk is just natural. “We make good pornos at home/I got the shots saved in my phone/Bitch I’m Texas to the bone/lil’ country boy like Post Malone.” Mexican? Yes — but to me he’s TEXAS first. It’s even in his name — OT means “Outta Texas.” And it doesn’t get much more certified as T than doing a song with Southern legend Z-Ro whose title references fellow legends Geto Boys.
“Never been a bitch and don’t know how to be a ho” quips Joseph McVey on “Crooked Officer.” Yes this album is filled with casual misogyny, male bravado and plenty shit talking, but none of it sounds malicious or offensive to this ear. All I hear is Virgil living his best life after following a traditional rap route that’s become remarkably nontraditional in current times. The cover art of “Texas Technician” is your clue. Rappers used to record their best work, make their own tapes and CDs, then slang them to anybody who would listen. He wasn’t waiting around to go viral, he was perfecting his game by seeing what worked and what didn’t, then going back to the lab to make songs like “Glocks & Hammers.” He’s not just nimble with his delivery and dirty like the South, he’s funny af too. “I’m the reason why this girl got a rash in her ass.”
And while he may not look like he sounds, that’s twice as charming when you hear him spit with pure confidence. “Shout out to my haters, I’m giving them hope still.”
His recent ascent to popularity has been matched by a well crafted knowledge of the right names to connect with. With you’ve got DaBaby on “Point ‘Em Out” and Moneybagg Yo on “Twisting Fingers” you’re calling the right shots or somebody paying the fee for features on the album is. It would be hard to not be a little cynical and call it meticulously choreographed to succeed, but if the songs work then who am I to complain? This is music for the whip.
Perhaps it doesn’t hurt that I like Virgil because he’s an admitted fan of lucha libre pro wrestling and named a previous album after it. I admit my biases. I also admit to being biased toward Texas ever since I heard my first Geto Boys tape as a teenager. I have biases toward a lot of places though. I like the East coast because it’s what I started with. I like Long Beach, Compton, Watts and South Central because they changed the landscape. I fucks with the Bay and how they love bass and slang. The 305 goes hard but so does Detroit. My point is I like REGIONAL rap. I like artists that sound like where they’re from and not like a AI slopfest decided what a rapper should sound like. Virgil is as “Texas Technician” as they come and he’s going to played at high volume in my residential neighborhood. Sorry to both my neighbors and his haters.