On the face of it, Desiigner seems like he might be intriguing: A nobody just a few months ago, the 19-year-old rapper is fresh off collaborating with one of the most famous musicians on the planet. And on top of that, his entire persona is built off another one of the most famous rappers alive? That’s some alternate universe, sci-fi shit, forget about Gucci Mane being a clone. His mixtape New English, unfortunately, is a lot less intriguing to listen to: It sounds like the last five years of hip-hop watered down.
New English is so woefully derivative it almost builds itself a new vocabulary from the Lego blocks of other rappers it stands on. There’s Waka Flocka Flame’s and Lex Luger’s maximalism; the overwhelming, in-the-red sing-song mayhem of Chief Keef, and, of course, the distinct promethazine-enhanced drawl of Future. Aside from his Brooklyn-borne lilt, there’s nothing separating what Desiigner’s doing from any of these artists. Travis Scott has gotten away with a lot of Desiigner’s sins because some of his textures are nice, and Mike Dean and a gang of wizard producers turned Rodeo into something occasionally enjoyable. But there’s nothing you can do here to redeem this material—which is maybe why it’s stuffed with a needlessly lush intro and several interludes, a consummate filler move so Tidal users could enjoy strings in high-def.
There are a few times the sheer audacity of this thing works. There’s “Caliber,” whose hook is just “caliber” a bunch of times, and is such a baldfaced Future rip it’s galling (yet addicting). “Monstas & Villains” sounds like a 2012 drill track (specifically, it sounds almost exactly like this deep King Beece/Lil Reese cut). “Overnight” lurches like a good Future song, and is actually pretty decent, a spacey bit of pathos like *EVOL**’*s “Lie to Me,” but unfortunately that's the catch: it’s more of a “decent 2016 Future song” than a “good 2013 Future song.” There’s an almost experimental quality to these flagrant stylistic excursions, like when you zoom in closer and closer on a photo until you see the Ben-Day dots. You're looking at the elements, and they create a nice pattern, but you miss the artwork's essence.
Desiigner just turned 19, which means when Waka and all those guys first broke in 2009/2010, followed up with drill’s 2012 moment (to say nothing of Gucci’s ascent years before that), he was anywhere from 12-15. I imagine that plays a huge role into how he creates, but if age were an excuse, how do you explain Kodak Black, who cops a Boosie flow but transcends his easy comparison checkpoint with engaging music? I want to applaud the Desiigner that writes a song called “Pluto,” performs like this on national TV, and crashes the BET Awards, off sheer gumption, but where are those tendencies on this tape?
I never thought “Panda” sounded like Future. If I cocked my head a certain way, yes, I heard it, but his stuttering, double-time flow is something not really in Future’s toolbox, and the more I listened, I thought the song's twists and turns, light on its feet like a boxer, was enough to make it more than a novelty. “What is he saying? Why does he sound like that?” Those two questions can get you pretty far in rap. This was even more true with his now infamous XXL Freestyle, dubbed “Timmy Turner.” Over finger snaps, Desiigner sang in a playground cadence with a thick patois: there was something there, a melodic sense of unease, a tease of a dark story delivered with the menace of a troubled adolescent. It had personality. It stuck in your mind. It did more in 45 seconds than New English does in 36 minutes.
