The Oakland, California DIY hip-hop duo Main Attrakionz couldn't have come at a better time. It's no news that the indie rap spectrum is beginning to widen and mutate, allowing the agit-prop of Odd Future to beam into the eyeballs of 12.4 million viewers on VMA night, wiggling polarizing avant-weirdos like Danny Brown and (more notably) Lil B into the mainstream consciousness, ramping up demand for astrally fogged bedroom producer Clams Casino's beats and grabbing up page space for up-and-coming outsiders like Harlem's ASAP Rocky. It's no surprise then that Main Attrakionz are being lumped into the same discussions (after all, they've worked with the latter three aforementioned artists), and in turn are well on their way to gaining the similar levels of notoriety. At the end of last month-- hot off their new mixtape 808s & Dark Grapes II-- the pair headed East and rocked Manhattan's New Museum as part of its "Get Weird" series, a notable but fittingly offbeat inauguration.
"Weird," however, seems a tad ill-fitting when describing Main Attrakionz's music: While unconventional in the sense that if you stripped away those titular 808s, you'd be left with glassy synths and watery textures that one could easily classify as ambient, rappers Squadda B and MondreM.A.N. seem simply to be products of their environment. And we're not necessarily talking about Oakland. While as prolific, as unafraid to integrate leftfield influences into their music, and as happy to keep things subwoofer-friendly as their Bay Area peers, most of their success and musical inspirations call cyberspace home. And in the case of 808s-- the fourth freebie mixtape full-length that these barely 20-year-olds have released in the past year (not including their solo efforts)-- Main Attrakionz seem to be neither the rule nor the exception, but rather a well-meaning, well-balanced rap act that has a sound that's both very "now" yet convincingly true-to-self.
As rappers, Squadda and Mondre at first seem unremarkable. Thematically, it's weed, women, and ambition, mixed with some mild introspection and broad sloganeering ("Ain't shit gon' change, but yo' ass can," goes the hook on "Nothin' Gonna Change"). So while some might write the two off in the rhyme department, it's important to note that the rhymes aren't really the draw here. Instead, the simplistic approach reads like a mantra of self-disciplining restraint (or as Mondre explains on "Paperwork", "I keep the music simple so any nigga can see"). Though lacking Lil B's bizarro free-associative style, it becomes pretty clear that, if their work ethic and output wasn't evidence enough, these guys are just constantly rapping: You can almost imagine them rhyming their way out of a speeding ticket or through a city council meeting (see: "Rap Junkies"). Which is to say, it blends perfectly with the zoned-out production. And the fact that Squadda and Mondre aren't exactly foils-- I wouldn't have noticed that each rapper takes a solo cut here had I not had the tracklist glowing back at me-- everything on 808s seems to emulsify almost effortlessly.
As the title suggests, this is music that will have you scrolling through your contacts to see if anyone's holding. Tracks like the new age-y "Perfect Skies" and the excellent "Chuch" spread out with a Zen-like grace that, coupled with Squadda and Mondre's fluid back-and-forth, invites you to melt into it. So, no, Main Attrakionz won't be spared the ridicule of jockeying the hipster zeitgeist-- after all, opener "Bossalinis & Fooliyones Pt. 2" samples Glasser's "Treasury of We"-- but these idiosyncratic pairings offer insight into where these guys are coming from.
Main Attrakionz have often been described as "lo-fi rap," and while 808s & Dark Grapes II itself is sonically tight and clean, it reeks of homemade qualities. Just because you can't hear the vocals reverberating off the tacky wood paneling in some basement doesn't mean you don't get a feel for how it was made. These guys are very much of the digital age and clearly feel most comfortable between the hinges of their laptops-- never mind that when the two are backed by more traditional, blocky programmings, they come off as average at best. Thanks to having such a wealth of music at their fingertips, Main Attrakionz synthesize their influences and source material uniquely and offer an endearing voice where others simply troll. Or, to paraphrase another popular internet parlance: They're doing it right.
