Released by Rad Reef, the Bay Area collective fronted by producer/rapper/video director/pot advocate Zachg, New No Wave culls together Internet rappers and beatmakers like Little Rock’s Pepperboy, Lil B favorite Keyboard Kid, fast-rapping Main Attrakionz pal Shady Blaze, Austin weirdo Western Tink, and many, many more. And despite the multitude of rap personalities bouncing all around on this compilation, it legitimately feels of one piece. It’s a survey of hip-hop’s oddballs with one thing in common: They don’t fit anywhere else and they’re pretty cool with that. There are plenty of bloggy rappers gaming the system and organically (but totally not organically) breaking through on one level or another, but what could anyone really do commercially with a Tom Waits-voiced screamer like Tree or the Odd-Futuristic Miami Tumblr maniacs Metro Zu, anyway? A telling quote from Zachg’s “foreword” to New No Wave: “We make music because we value community. We make music because we like bass, we like riding in cars, we like smoking weed, [and] we relate to the mythic tales of rap.” The Rad Reef-released comp New No Wave is out next Tuesday, but you can listen to it below, exclusively at SPIN.
:audio=0:110991:playlist:Rad Reef Presents: New No Wave:
