Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Rap Monster accomplishes with “Do You” what he was trying to accomplish with “Awakening“, and both the song and the music video end up working very well.
Yeah yeah, I know, the “do you” hook is a bit annoying at first, but it grew on me a lot with multiple listens and I ended up enjoying it specifically because it was repetitive and didn’t distract from the rapping. Primarily though, I loved the minimalist metronome beat, as it set the mood effectively and allowed the rapping and lyrics to be the showcase.
Of course, this flops if Rap Monster raps poorly, but he rode the beat well and it was his best lyrical effort of the three music videos he’s released so far. I still think whenever he tries to include English it fucks up his flow because he doesn’t quite know how to work with it in terms of syllables, but the rest of it was rock solid. In particular, the second (after the English part at the start) and third verses stood out as something I could fuck with any day. I loved how he sped up his flow in the second verse and then cut if off with the “whoa” interjections, because sometimes rappers with the dexterity to spit fast (like Outsider/Twista, Eminem on “Rap God“) can fall into relying on just that to carry a track/verse and you kind of zone out, but the pulling on the reins moments are not only humorous and/or memorable, but serve the purpose of giving listeners a bit of a break or changeup. Not sure if he constructed that, but impressive.
—–
The music video was bare bones, but I loved the visuals. Everything from the (lack of) colors to the metronome itself worked from a conceptual perspective, and director managed to keep things simple but polished without crossing over to gaudy and pretentious. I enjoy these kinds of music videos much much much more than the loud, showy crap that’s put out in droves. Idols/rappers gotta do what they gotta do to sell to the public, but tracks like “Do You” are vastly superior to “Good Boy” or “Tough Cookie” or whatever hep hap thug lord shit like that.
Ironically, Rap Monster appears to try to come off as a “legit” rapper the least here and that’s how he ended up with a song and music video that shows he belongs in this space.
