8OUNCE, S*10 & Kolor brings you the
best queer rap MC / producer
,
Le1f, aka Khalif Didou
.
New-school hip-hop
, (lazer) bass music, house, acid, a real showman, and pop, with capital letters. Spa you there!
""
Le1f
''s 2012 mixtape
Dark York
established him as one of the more idiosyncratic rappers in a year defined in large part by a vast number of debuts by folks who don''t fit the popular conception of what people expect from an MC. Most of the record is given o
ver to edgy dance-rap hybrids and edgier electronic psychedelia
, but in the moments that his vision snaps into focus-- including but not limited to the addictively
skronky, twerk-worthy single "Wut"-- he turns into a pop star waiting to happen
. On
Fly Zone
, his full-length follow-up to
Dark York
that comes on the heels of a collaborative EP with his producer Boody, he seems determined to make that transition.


Even just a couple of years ago the idea of a rapper with such a
strongly avant-garde sensibility
- not to mention one that''s openly gay - bent on crossing over with a mainstream audience would have seemed like a cruel joke. But the hip-hop mainstream has been steadily catching up with its artsy leading edge, so that someone like
Clams Casino
can go from being an obscure producer with a sui generis aesthetic and a SoundCloud page to prominent placement on marquee major label albums in what seemed like no time.


Le1f’s forthright about his ambitions. He dedicates the album’s third track, "Cloud So Loud", to college kids, suburbs, the projects, and clubs "with no basic bitches at the function," a broad and demographically diverse swath of pop culture consumers who he intends to win over to his side. The beat, produced by the evocatively named
DJ Blood Everywhere
, is
frenetic, booming, and probably sounds amazing
being played too loud over a club P.A., so the idea of Le1f attracting that kind of audience is far from unfeasible. In that context, its use of a snippet of the same vocal sample from Super Beagle''s "Dust a Soundboy" that Kanye and Lifted based the beat to last summer’s megasmash "Mercy" around is both aspirational and hella cheeky.


"Cloud So Loud" isn''t the only overtly ambitious moment on
Fly Zone
, but unlike most goal-oriented mixtape rappers, Le1f wisely prefers to show his crossover potential rather than to rap about it. On
Dark York
his vocal performances tended to be about as spacey as the beats behind them, but since then his flow has developed a heft and muscularity that it lacked before, as if he''s only just now figuring out what his limber vocal chords are capable of, which includes everything from
deep, unexpectedly Tupac-like growls to a girlish squeal
that he sometimes deploys during punchlines. His lyrics are stronger too. "Airbending" boasts the line, "I am whatever you say I am/ Stop worrying about how gay I am," where the fact that it''s a flip of an Eminem lyric is followed quickly by the realization that a rapper quoted one of pop''s most virulent homophobes to reaffirm his gayness, which is a brilliant demonstration of conceptual judo.


Fly Zone
''s production is similarly more coherent than
Dark York
''s. There''s still enough
weirdness
to satisfy Le1f''s more psychedelically inclined fans (including "Psy Lock", which is one of the trippiest odes to cybersex ever recorded), but he seems more inclined now to borrow ideas from
mainstream rap music
, even if he ends up turning them inside out. Standout track "Spa Day" sounds like the result of an MDMA-fueled encounter between
dubstep and trap rap
. (The hook where Le1f wishes us "mazel tov" is prone to looping endlessly in the brain long after the song is over.) "The Whip", featuring Haleek Maul, is even more traditional, with a beat that delivers an almost eerily accurate reproduction of
early-90s g-funk
.


All in all,
Fly Zone
is an
epically audacious record
, boiling down to essentially a 13-track demand from Le1f to be allowed access to a mainstream audience without sacrificing a shred of the identity that sets him apart from nearly every rapper a mainstream audience has been drawn to. Will Le1f be able to have his cake and eat it, too? I have a feeling we''ll find out by his next installment." (Pitchfork - 7.8 Point)





Le1f also brings
DJ Mess Kid
, who will play
new-school house and bass music.
Also, clash of the titans!
8OUNCE Vs. S*10 DJs!
Vanis Vs. Faz, Mr. Hi Vs. Mr. Mstrs!