Kitty Pryde – Haha, I’m Sorry EP

As the debate over what constitutes real hip-hop continues to burn its toxic, obfuscating smoke, and while we wait as time determines whether or not internet-fermented subgenres of rap like based and trillwave have any staying power, Kitty Pryde soldiers on, creating a distinctive and highly polarizing character with a precocious dexterity.

For anyone who’s ever wondered how social media’s affected the first generation to enter adolescence with Tumblr and Twitter, Haha I’m Sorry is like looking into a diary/rhyme book with sketches of memes drawn into the margins. Pryde’s rhymes combine typical teenage concerns (love, both unrequited and puppy, “haters,” etc) with liberal drug references. Her image brings suburban immaculacy to the Codine soaked it-sound that is modern independent rap that blurs the line between irony and sincerity almost as efficiently as an Internet connection. Stand-outs in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it 13 minutes include “GIVE ME SCABIES” a dizzying, ecstatic banger that washes “Call Me Maybe” with Kenny G saxes and Bay area bombast, as well as RiFF RAFF guesting “orion’s belt.” Thunderous  production from Beautiful Lou, Sela, and Grant are key to the project’s success, but Kitty’s charisma makes it. Whether or not it can sustain a career is, at this point, tertiary. If her style’s a meme, let’s enjoy it while it’s fresh.

-via Complex