True to his name, ICYTWAT’s music sounds like it emerged from a frozen hell, cold and intense as an Arctic snowstorm. The Chicago rapper-producer distills the airiness of cloud rap, the blown-out noise of rage music, and the bounce of Memphis crunk (particularly When the Smoke Clears-era Three 6 Mafia) into an impish, head-splitting mix. Final Boss, the fifth project he’s released this year, mostly keeps pace with recent work like April’s Have Mercy on Us and July’s 4 Tha Troopz. It’s a collection of hedonistic bangers that shimmer like stalactites.
As a rapper, ICY tends to lean on boilerplate flexing—vague talk of bag chasing, label deals, and endless drugs and sex—but his dead-eyed croak brings texture to his blustery productions. Often he’s the quietest aspect of a given song, whispering while the beats swirl and crash around him. On tracks like “Neva Worried,” he slurs through syllables with a shrug; on “Cut Up” and “They Don’t Hear Me,” he channels the ethereal bounce of Freewave 2-era Lucki. His ad-libs frequently sound like he’s trying to make himself gag, giving songs like “No Settling” and “Topside Freestyle” a jolt of Carti-esque weirdness.
Sonically, the team of producers behind Final Boss largely stick to Icytwat’s script. Cincinnati producer Rocco Roy handles the lion’s share of the beats, including “Onnat,” “See It In Her Eyez,” and “Black Card,” which throb with menace. Memphis producer Scott Romosa’s “Feel Like Pat” is a bit of explicit Three 6 worship that mixes the group’s gothic tendencies with warbling, eardrum-shredding bass. But a handful of outliers slow things down. Detroit’s Topside gives “Topside Freestyle” a muted swing with bass licks and glittering keys that, compared to the rest of the album, feel almost gentle. And while the drums, police sirens, and barking dogs on closing track “Final Boss Music” would induce Resident Evil levels of anxiety on their own, here it’s a reprieve from the chaos, a place for ICY to stretch his limbs while he’s off to “make some muhfuckin’ money.”
ICYTWAT knows exactly what he’s here to deliver: trippy music where odes to designer shades and blowing your label advance slot between punishing, maximal beats. It’s not an especially ambitious approach—he’s not aiming for the bombastic showmanship of Travis Scott or trying to pry open your third eye like his former Divine Council colleague $ilkmoney. Final Boss, like so many ICY projects before it, just wants to keep things cool.
