Steve 'Flash' JuonIn 1988 KRS-One quipped “Old school artists don’t always burn/You’re just another rapper who’s had his turn/Now it’s my turn” on the BDP song “I’m Still #1.” Then as now I recognized his statement as a bold assertion of self-belief. “Get out of my way you old fogies. The young generation is here.” There was a little bit of irony to anything being given the name OLD SCHOOL when the hip-hop movement was only 15 years old, but there was enough of a stylistic shift between the disco/funk/party rap of the late 1970’s and early 80’s to the more realistic and gritty rap of the mid to late 1980’s for the term to make sense. “Old school” was Furious Five, Treacherous Three, Sugarhill Gang. Mr. Parker wasn’t wrong to say they sounded dated compared to what he and his peers were doing. Disrespectful? Maybe. But rappers always have and always will assert their dominance over their rivals, past and present.
I’m using this context to frame my review of Thouxanbanfauni’s “Arsonist” for a reason. For him and for many of today’s rap artists, the classic definition of rap is irrelevant. Just as KRS-One could call Kurtis Blow or Melle Mel a fossil from a time under ten years ago, today’s Atlanta rappers like Thou can look at OutKast or Goodie Mob and dismiss them as dated — and their peak was far longer ago by comparison. From their perspective, that style is dated and faded. Conceptual rap songs? Hush that fuss. Sampling from old R&B, rock and funk records? Move to the back of the bus. Rapping without pitch correction? That’s not how you make the club get crunk. Thou is “MARCHIN” to a whole different beat.
The ALL CAPS song titles are the exclamation point on Thou’s statement. Everything has changed. His cover art even reflects the reality of our world right now. Wars everywhere. Dictators and democracies have become interchangeable. You can be detained and deported without due process just for looking different, speaking a different language, or criticizing the people in charge. Curbs on power and wealth have been abolished. Our world is on fire. The bleakness of songs like “WACO” is fitting for our times, with or without any Branch Davidian compound on fire.
It’s something of an irony then that for a new school artist like Thou who wants the old school (and everything else) to burn to have a song like “NATURAL BORN KILLERS.” For whatever reason he and his production team dropped most (not all) of the pitch correction and singing, and sentiments like “baby I’m a mess, I won’t blame my lack of sleep” bleed through. He’s pouring out his pain like Mickey rapping to Mallory, saying his girl is the only one who can save him from himself. This is surprisingly good. He might not like me calling it “old school” but yeah… compared to most of today’s rap, it is.
“Arsonist” has moments like this that suggest there is more than “SURFACE LVL” depth to his thoughts. It’s a bit disappointing he doesn’t do more to show it. In fact giving songs titles like “BAM MARGERA” and “SOFIA VERGARA” suggests the opposite. Why come up with a name when you can just use the name of someone famous? The bleakness of his worldview is a little much too. “Ain’t no trust left in my blood” is the recurring sentiment of “NOTHING.” On a personal level I’m sad for him and a lost generation who feel they have nothing, trust is nothing, and would rather have “codeine in my veins” than even try to feel feelings any more.
I’m going to loop back to my framing device now. The emperor has no clothes and my secrets are fully nude to the world here. “Arsonist” gave me every excuse to pick a rap line with the word BURN in it somewhere, but I chose this one because Thou and a whole lot of Gen Z rappers have no fucks to give about the era of rap I grew up with. That’s only fair. It’s not like I gave a fuck about The Beatles or Bob Dylan in my teenage years. They were “old school” to me. As an adult I can take a more measured look at their music and recognize its value, but at the time it had no relevance to what I was doing.
The point I’m making here is that sometimes I like what Thouxanbanfauni has to say. Sometimes I can’t even understand what he’s saying at all. The vocals get drowned in the bass and the beats and the AutoTune. He’s making music for his generation though, not mine. Give me another 35 years and if I’m still here maybe I’ll be able to appreciate it the way I finally do a classic Beatles record. For now at nearly 60 minutes long it feels like a long slog with only a few bright spots to guide me toward the finish line.