It seems like the entire SoundCloud underground rap scene is built on reference at the moment, but there’s a fine line between being unbearably derivative and wielding distinctive influences for fresh results. The former: Nine Vicious stretching his voice and letting out pterodactyl ad-libs the exact same way Barter-era Young Thug would. The latter: Feng detailing his Instagram Reel field trips over beats that filter M.I.A.’s kala through plugg-indebted techniques. Sayso Says, the debut album from 18-year-old Atlanta rapper Che, placed him comfortably in the latter category, synthesizing rough-around-the-edges punch-in rap with Crystal Castles-esque witch house revivalism. Even if his attempt wasn’t flawless, the audacity to rap over these beats was enough to establish his artistic vision; if his Alice Glass ribcage tattoo wasn’t convincing enough, the glitchy, arpeggiated synth leads and sidechained four-on-the-floor patterns would do the trick.
On his second album, REST IN BASS, Che mostly abandons that sound, instead creating something like the platonic ideal of a rage rap record. He pushes his vocal performances to the extreme, often simultaneously higher in pitch, louder in volume, and more vicious in delivery, like he’s channeling 10 Whole Lotta Reds’ worth of Playboi Cartis inside his chest. When proto-hyperpop elements appear, they’re distorted and clipping above everything else, similar to the mixes on Ken Carson’s A Great Chaos. REST IN BASS is defiantly overstuffed, crushing familiar rage ideas together without stalling in one place too long. It feels like surfing static-possessed television channels.
You can hear Che’s love of dance music throughout. Take “Hood Famous,” where he alters lines slightly like a house producer sneaking in unexpected deviations: “I feel it in my chest/I’m the best” becomes “It’s in my flesh and blood/I’m the best,” with the “I’m the best” being copied and pasted. When he lands on the same beat with identical inflection, he sounds just as machine as human. He uses a similar approach on “Die Young,” shuffling between four different lines like a DJ rotating through effects. This precise manipulation of short phrases is a technique he employed on Sayso Says tracks like “Nunca Hacer Cocaina” to emphasize rhythm, but on REST IN BASS, they work as textural overload.
In terms of production, REST IN BASS ranks among the most adventurous rage projects. Sure, it still prioritizes noise over anything, but these aren’t the usual looped, straightforward soundwalls; they have far more movement and range. “Doe Deer” starts with kitschy blast beats and guitars before exploding into darting VGM notes and laser 808s. It’s like if Uzi’s Pink Tape was deep-fried, or if someone was playing Twisted Metal in the studio. “Never Too Young to Die,” with Chicago rapper Chuckyy, backs down from the rave tempo, though it maintains intensity with dramatic orchestral stabs that sound straight from the Glo era. The drum patterns on “Mannequin” have a throwback feel that’s a snug fit for featured artist Xaviersobased, but the combination of SFX, the siren-like lead, and bowling-ball 808s douses everything in zoomer brainrot. While the beats pull from various regions and scenes, they’re threaded together by unrelenting distortion, the lingua franca of REST IN BASS.
Che’s exhausting hedonism is standard in rage, though the album’s strongest moments come in the rare instances of vulnerability that give him more character. On “Dior Leopard,” the album’s best track, his indulgence raps feel numbing until he name-drops his mother (“Momma found out I was doing drugs, then she spazzed out/She’s not playing games, OK, she kicked my ass out”). The stories of drug addiction and infidelity are so much more pressing—as if this were the knowledge those mind-numbing drums and frenetic bass drops hoped to conceal. Suddenly, the mysterious Opium clichés cave in on themselves, revealing a hint of desperation. By the time the beat changes and the line “I called the plug, said I’m dying” emerges atop the dizzying mix, it feels like we might not make it through the night. The real nausea sets in when REST IN BASS feels like life or death.
