{"id":1153733,"date":"2021-09-24T14:00:48","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T11:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1153733"},"modified":"2021-09-24T14:00:48","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T11:00:48","slug":"topside-is-detroits-funkiest-producer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1153733","title":{"rendered":"Topside Is Detroit\u2019s Funkiest Producer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Topside Is Detroit\u2019s Funkiest Producer<\/h1>\n
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Plus more highs and lows from the world of rap, including the latest from the Charlotte Hornets\u2019 Miles Bridges and 50 Cent\u2019s greatest acting moment.<\/div>\n
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By <\/span>Alphonse Pierre<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Graphic by Maddy Price, photo by bokehgod<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Pitchfork writer Alphonse Pierre\u2019s<\/em>rap column<\/em>covers songs, mixtapes, albums, Instagram freestyles, memes, weird tweets, fashion trends<\/em>\u2014and anything else that catches his attention.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Topside\u2019s beats are behind some of Detroit\u2019s best rap music right now<\/h2>\n

Topside is FaceTiming me from the front seat of a car just outside of Detroit, giving a mini Ted Talk about the glory days of No Limit and Cash Money. Raised in Monroe, Louisiana, the 31-year-old producer would accompany his dad\u2019s best friend on trips to Atlanta to visit his father, and on one of these rides he was introduced to the first album he ever loved, Master P\u2019s MP Da Last Don<\/em>. \u201cMaster P took all the best beats,\u201d he says about the No Limit honcho\u2019s 1998 opus, as he flicks a lighter. \u201cYou can tell a lot of the No Limit albums were rushed, but Da Last Don<\/em> is a real body of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Topside draws comparisons between the funk bounce of Juvenile\u2019s 400 Degreez<\/em> and foundational G-Funk records like Doggystyle<\/em> and The Chronic<\/em>. Then he gushes about Snoop\u2019s often disrespected No Limit debut Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told<\/em>, and says the best song on the album is the rapless interlude \u201cPay For Pussy.\u201d<\/p>\n

This fixation shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise if you\u2019re familiar with the beats Topside has been lacing some of the finest rappers in Detroit (he moved to the city in the fifth grade) with for the past two years, including Veeze, Babyface Ray, and Baby Smoove. Similar to the No Limit in-house production team Beats by the Pound, Topside leans on thick basslines and brass, though his drums draw heavily from classic Detroit street rap, like they were designed to rattle out of a powerful American-made car. The best introduction to his instrumentals is G Shit, Vol. 1<\/em>, a collaborative mixtape he put out last year with Detroit\u2019s weathered and often paranoid Los. Together, and mostly through text messages, they created an entire world that plays out like a mundane mission on Grand Theft Auto<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Surprisingly, Topside only started making beats a couple of years ago. His name spread like wildfire through Detroit after he produced the manic-sounding beat for Veeze\u2019s \u201cItself.\u201d He says he was able to learn the ins and outs of FL Studio quickly thanks to his background as a drummer (he played the snare and bass drums in the school band but quit in the 9th grade when the program required students to read music). As a kid he was enamored with marching bands and remembers going to the battle of the bands at Grambling State University, which was only a short drive away from Monroe. \u201cThat\u2019s why I add so many horns and instruments to my beats,\u201d says Topside. \u201cNot only does it make the beat live longer but maybe a band could play it, too.\u201d His dream is for the beat he made for Los\u2019 \u201cHit Em\u2019 Wit That Fye,\u201d with its blaring horns and ticking hi-hats, to be picked up by a band one day.<\/p>\n

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Before beatmaking, Topside was doing what so many working class Michigan natives do to get by: He was an assembler at a Ford factory. He\u2019s not sure what led him to FL Studio, but he does mention that at the time he was heavily into plugg beats on SoundCloud. His recent beats sound nothing like that, though, and if anything they\u2019ve gotten even grimier this year as he\u2019s ventured outside of Detroit for a few noteworthy projects: Rx Papi\u2019s EP Dope Deals and Record Deals<\/em>, which got some rotation on OVO Sound Radio, and last week\u2019s fine-sounding Baby Gangsta, Vol. 2<\/em>, a joint mixtape with Jet Life\u2019s T.Y. (the son of Cash Money\u2019s B.G.). G Shit, Vol. 2<\/em> with Los is due later this year, and it should be one of Detroit\u2019s most anticipated rap records. Until then, he\u2019s busy looking for new inspiration by digging through classics from Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Earth, Wind & Fire, and, of course, late \u201990s New Orleans rap.<\/p>\n

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Throwback rapper movie corner: 50 Cent in Den of Thieves<\/em><\/h2>\n

Almost all of 50 Cent\u2019s filmography is extremely shitty. Righteous Kill<\/em>? Yes, he managed to be in the only unwatchable movie starring both Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Escape Plan<\/em>? No, it was not believable that 50 Cent was Sylvester Stallone\u2019s best friend. Get Rich or Die Tryin\u2019<\/em>? It does not deserve its spot in the rap movie canon. I suppose, if you were to find some sort of bright spot, the first couple of seasons of Power<\/em> were actually pretty good, before it got run into the ground like most successful TV series.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s really only one thing that justifies 50 Cent\u2019s abysmal 16-year acting career. It\u2019s a 2018 movie called Den of Thieves<\/em>, a shameless rip off of Michael Mann\u2019s classic Heat<\/em>, starring Gerard Butler as a crooked cop named Big Nick and Pablo Schreiber as a Marine turned bank robber, and directed by some dude named Christian Gudegast who claims to have directed Dr. Dre and Kurupt music videos while in film school even though that\u2019s impossible to Google. In the movie 50 Cent is a marine veteran and part of Pablo Schreiber\u2019s crew. He doesn\u2019t have much to do besides mean mug the camera and mumble a few words, which he\u2019s really good at. About halfway through, in between the heists and dick-swinging contests, we learn that 50 Cent\u2019s daughter is going to prom. The scene lasts about two minutes and contributes nothing to the plotline whatsoever, but it will forever belong at the top of 50\u2019s acting highlight reel. When the daughter\u2019s date arrives to pick her up, an extremely roided-out 50 asks him to come into the garage for a chat. In the garage there are about twenty dudes (and a child) who look like they play defensive line for the Los Angeles Chargers, and they\u2019re lifting weights because I guess they\u2019ve never heard of Planet Fitness. 50 gives a monologue about how if anything happens to his daughter he will put the teenager in a wheelchair. The kid leaves the garage shivering in his Men\u2019s Wearhouse tux and the crew laugh it off and return to getting swole. It\u2019s bizarre and all the bad 50 Cent movies I\u2019ve sat through in my life were worth it for this clip.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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SahBabii returns with a line about buttholes<\/h2>\n
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This is the future DJ Kool Herc dreamed of.<\/p>\n

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Rx Papi and Shawny Binladen: \u201cGood Wherever I\u2019m At\u201d<\/h2>\n
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Rx Papi and Shawny Binladen may both reside in the state of New York (Papi reps Rochester and Shawny comes out of Queens), but they don\u2019t necessarily inhabit the same world. For the last year, Rx Papi has flooded the internet with hundreds of unpredictable and often deranged singles, and Shawny could be credited for setting off the sample drill wave that has New York in a stranglehold. Once you hear them together, though, it makes sense, and neither rapper compromises his sound on the recent track, \u201cGood Wherever I\u2019m At.\u201d Papi starts off with a verse filled with self-made sound effects and ridiculous threats while Shawny whispers over the soul sample, staying in his comfort zone. It\u2019s a dream collab that I didn\u2019t realize I wanted till I heard it.<\/p>\n

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Miles Bridges bricks this shot<\/h2>\n
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Earlier this year, the Flint-based rapper RTB MB\u2014known to the world as Charlotte Hornets high-flyer Miles Bridges\u2014forever raised the bar for NBA rappers with his mixtape Up the Score<\/em>. But the downside of all the acclaim for Bridges\u2019 foray into regional Michigan rap (from critics including me) is that now when he operates below those standards I have to point that out as well. His latest track \u201cESPN,\u201d featuring his Hornets teammate Terry Rozier, is more like the NBA rap songs we\u2019ve been accustomed to for the last three decades. The track samples the NBA on ESPN<\/em> theme song, and Bridges raps exclusively in sports references. I get it, it\u2019s supposed to be fun, and yes, it\u2019s an easy way to go viral. But part of what made Up the Score<\/em> so fascinating was that he seemed to be less focused on getting a couple social media reposts for a few days, and aspiring to make music that you could actually slip onto your personal Michigan rap playlist.<\/p>\n

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Daesworld: \u201cWut Happened\u201d and \u201c2003\u201d<\/h2>\n
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Daesworld is a teenager out of Virginia whose songs could either backdrop an Illuminati conspiracy video or soundtrack the moment your crush sends a text back. \u201cWut Happened\u201d and \u201c2003,\u201d two of the most recent songs on his active SoundCloud page, cover both sides of that spectrum. On \u201cWut Happened,\u201d the darker one of the two, he layers sinister vocals over an ominous melody made up of sporadic church bells\u2014it feels like you\u2019re in a horror movie right before shit goes wrong. \u201c2003\u201d is nothing like that; it sounds like a plugg beat played at 3x speed on a bad internet connection. On this one, his vocals are submerged in so much Auto-Tune that the lyrics are incomprehensible, leaving you to interpret them in whatever way you want.<\/p>\n

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BabyTron\u2019s lost Donda<\/em> verse<\/h2>\n
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Kanye left an extremely important verse off Donda<\/em>. Oh, wait\u2014no, this is not about the Andr\u00e9 3000 leak that the entire world fawned over, although that\u2019s good, too. But what I was getting at was that BabyTron, who Kanye has definitely heard of and definitely asked to record some bars for Donda<\/em>, is nowhere to be found on the final edition. Thankfully, Tron leaked his own verse that would have surely ended up on the album if not for major label politics. I cannot believe we were deprived of Tron saying he punched himself a pair of Yeezy 500s and labeling himself the \u201cprophet of the scam world!\u201d I suppose we will have to wait for the Donda<\/em> deluxe edition for Kanye to see the error of his ways.<\/p>\n

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RealYungPhil: \u201cMadden\u201d<\/h2>\n
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Connecticut\u2019s RealYungPhil and New York\u2019s Evil Giane (of the sprawling collective Surf Gang) complement each other; the latter breathes new life into samples that fit the former\u2019s plainspoken raps. Phil\u2019s latest tape Dr. Phil<\/em> is produced entirely by Giane, and the two don\u2019t stray far from the formula that led to the surprisingly addictive \u201cAin\u2019t Bout Nun.\u201d On \u201cMadden,\u201d Phil talks slick over a sped-up sample flip that melts into thudding drum patterns like butter on fresh baked bread. His bars aren\u2019t the most complex, but his laid-back presence drives the music: He\u2019s too busy putting out good music to be bothered by the bullshit.<\/p>\n

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Duwap Kaine finally explains the deep meaning behind a highly debated punchline<\/h2>\n
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Source URL: https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/thepitch\/topside-is-detroits-funkiest-producer\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Columns Topside Is Detroit\u2019s Funkiest Producer Plus more highs and lows from the world of rap, including the latest from the Charlotte Hornets\u2019 Miles Bridges and 50 Cent\u2019s greatest acting moment. By Alphonse Pierre September 24, 2021 Graphic by Maddy Price, photo by bokehgod Pitchfork writer Alphonse Pierre\u2019srap columncovers songs, mixtapes, albums, Instagram freestyles, memes, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1153738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-1153733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-pitchfork-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1153733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1153738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1153733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1153733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1153733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}