Niontay came onto the scene as a nowhere man in 2023 with Dontay’s Inferno. Here was a guy with South Florida wicks rapping on drumless Detroit beats and chipmunk soul samples as a new member of MIKE’s New York–based label, 10k. His penchant for shit-talking carved a distinct lane among the 10k crew, specifically MIKE, Sideshow, and Jadasea, for whom flexes usually take a backseat to more inward-looking lyricism. When Niontay stumbles upon his own moments of personal contemplation, his rapid-fire deliveries help them cut bone-deep even while sandwiched between boasts. This is his world: veering through different styles of rap, never getting too topical but never shying away from the truth.
Fada<3of$, his debut album, was originally titled 2009 in homage to Niontay’s late friend, whose loss, he’s said, “completely changed his life.” According to Niontay, the switch to Fada<3of$ signifies his desire to manifest celebration alongside grief, his preferred philosophy for moving forward. Building on his jack-of-all-trades skill, Niontay curates a collection of vignettes that touch on love, loss, and perseverance. Mostly self-produced, Fada<3of$ breezes through SoundCloud-infused Southern rap sounds, pulling from Shawty Pimp and Gucci Mane as much as Lucki and guest producers Surf Gang. These bite-sized songs almost feel like demos, but they sparkle with nostalgia for gold rims and TR-808s.
Expanding an already diverse palette of regional rap styles, Fada<3of$ embraces canonical Black genres that bolster the Pan-Africanist vision underlying Niontay’s music. On “So Lovely,” a sparse, sample-driven R&B slow jam, Niontay names everything he admires about his lover; the way his “I love you” matches the piano melody is something you might expect from Janet Jackson or Brandy. The context-free list of traits is almost silly, but the cracks in his voice hint at a sense of desperation; it’s one of his most emotional cuts to date. “Old Kent Road Freestyle” sounds like a chase scene in a Blaxploitation film, or if a homie started freestyling during a Sly and the Family Stone jam session. The psychedelic distorted bass and electric piano stabs have a sense of comic timing that helps Niontay’s charisma shine. His chewy bars roll out like miniature Black history lessons: “I give a nigga somethin’ to celebrate like Juneteenth,” “Million dollar convos with the crackas, I’m eating lunch.”
While it can be dizzying hearing Niontay jump from style to style, the features provide context. The blown-out, hazy beat on “Post Game Pskr” has a Cadillac-on-hydraulics coolness wired for El Cousteau’s brand of pimp rap. Lo-fi textures sizzle and roil on “Poltergeist,” perfect for the moody world of Jadasea. “+100underdogs” is a New Jazz track, a style Dav1d has dabbled in before. Regardless of the terrain, Niontay adapts with chameleonic ease, unlocking flows like video game upgrades. Fada<3of$ feels like more than just his; “Souljaman by Smv,” a track by R&B artist SMV in which Niontay’s voice doesn’t appear at all, is the most radical display of this communal design. Niontay wants his friends to come up with him.
On “Lifestyles of da young n nomadic interlude,” Niontay gets off disparate one-liners over an off-kilter piano loop that could fit on a Klein record: “Do my dance and hit the bank,” “I’m in Dallas, I’m in Texas,” and “I got a new phone, bitch, don’t text me” are a few that can be made out. At times his voice is hard to piece together, competing against background chatter. The piano speaks too, emphasizing and underlining his words like a church keyboardist would for a pastor. Here, in an interlude that sounds almost like a field recording, his bars don’t register as braggadocious, but as reflective of everything he’s been able to accomplish: It’s like the scene in Rocky 3 where Rocky celebrates after finally getting his get back against Clubber Lang. Perhaps introspection and arrogance aren’t so very far apart; on Fada<3of$, Niontay accentuates their coexistence to compose his most nuanced self-portrait to date.
