Last Monday, French producer Brodinski released his latest project The Sour Patch Kid, showcasing a cadre of Atlanta rappers doing their thing over his production. Hoodrich Keem hosts the tape, which you can grab for free at Livemixtapes. This follow-up to his 2015 debut album Brava follows the producer’s exploration of the intersection between electro, techno, and rap further down the rabbit hole.
Attention to detail puts the project’s beats over the top, as evidenced on tracks like “Gas,†where a verbed-out synth lead hooks the ear even more than Young Nudy’s best Gucci impression. The track sounds like what a nuclear reactor overload alarm would sound like if you were off a 4oz of Actavis. Sonically, the tape presents an aggressive, dark sound palette marked exclusively by minor-key tonality and heavily distorted 808 kicks. Brodinski’s techno sound design experience shines through in its nuance: each track demonstrates a fluency in the language of modern drug rap production, amplified by the electro techniques that catapulted the Frenchman to prominence. At their best, on tracks like “Gasâ€, “Slimes in the Placeâ€, and “Big Dawg†– Brodinski’s productions exhibit fantastic synergy with their featured vocalists.
The project’s lyrical content is basically par for the modern Atlanta course, but there are some interesting subtexts worth noting. You hear plenty of bars about sneakin and geekin, pursuing promiscuity, and toting hammers, but the tone is a good deal lighter than, for instance, Chicago drillers or LA bangers. Witness Nudy’s playful intro to “Gas,†on which he quips, “Brodinski, Dirk Nowitzki, whiskey, we sippin’ whiskey, I’m in the cut rolling up gas with the hippies,†or Hoodrich Pablo’s hook on “Dead Peopleâ€: “Ben Frank, that’s my homie/Andrew Jackson, that’s my homie/Ulysses Grant, that’s my homie/Hamilton, that’s my homie/I’m seeing dead people.†The young Atlanta artists featured on this tape do a great job of taking themselves and their music seriously despite throwing an occasional wink to the listener.
While this project has been billed as Brodinski’s mixtape, it is worth noting that the tracks list the vocalist as the main artist, punctuated with a [Prod. By Brodinski] in the filename. This is actually a little bit bigger of a gesture than it appears, especially when one considers the ever-present subtext of cultural appropriation.
Rap is, of course, Black music. And Brodinski, of course, is a white, cisgender man. I’m going to refrain from delving too deeply into a discussion of racial and identity politics, since it is beyond my depth and experience to fully explore the relationships at play when discussing white artists who create traditionally Black music.
I will, however, opine that a distinction exists between those who appropriate and those who reference and contribute. It is obvious that Brodinski has a deep understanding of the Atlanta wave, sonically speaking. He is unquestionably successful in referencing that sound and adding his own flavor to it. Instead of calling this mixtape his own, he’s checked in with Hoodrich Keem as host and made sure to prominently feature the voices of artists with whose culture he is engaging. It’s also worth mentioning that the rappers on this tape come from different groups of opposing gangs. While Atlanta isn’t notorious for intense gang activity on the level of, say, LA, the fact that artists who might otherwise be rivals are coexisting on the same project is a testament to the unifying power of success. Atlanta’s rap scene is known for its cohesion and mutual support, traits that DC artists would be well-served to emulate.
The synergy isn’t always present on The Sour Patch Kid – songs like “Wow†and “Bow Tie†are heavy on quotables but light on replay value. But when it works, it works, and it’s a beautiful symbiosis. A week after its release, there are still some tracks from the tape on my playlist. Give it a listen below, and see if Brodinski’s latest offering moves you in the same way.
https://www.livemixtapes.com/mixtapes/40420/brodinski-the-sour-patch-kid.html