Jul 13, 2017 i feel like i post this every three months but: why do y'all do this? there's so much great rap music out there, why waste time semi-ironically jerking off over novelty acts?
Jul 13, 2017 If squid didn't semi ironically jerk off to novelty acts there'd be no point in sxn80 existing
Jul 13, 2017 Now if you don't know who Matt Ox is, you might have a little catching up to do. Basically Matt Ox, is a preteen rapper out of Philly. I had previously been mildly entertained by his music videos and music. However, I never really quite got into what he was doing. Fast forward to a few weeks after watching his video for "Overwhelming." In a late night YouTube rabbit hole excursion, I stumbled upon something fascinating. I looked over into my recommended videos and saw what was apparently a video of a Matt Ox show. I couldn't really tell because the thumbnail looked like some crappy footage of some show at a hole in the wall venue without a stage... It was exactly that, but so much more. The video starts with some backstage footage of Matt singing along to Lil B's "Bill Bellamy." Right off the bat, I was like... “count me in.” Then it cuts straight to the show and I immediately felt the charm of the underground. A mass of people just bunched together around a dude with a microphone. No stage or nothing. It was packed wall to wall with a strange collection of people, with completely different vibes, reacting in their own ways to this dude who looks like a grown up Minecraft Youtuber rapping his way through his set. Then before I could even get my wits about me, the camera cuts to a dude who I can only assume is the pipe lord himself, JR Smith. "What the f--- is going on?" Cut to the next rapper, who I can only assume is known as Orange Beanie Man. Behind him I see Cheddar Bob from 8mile in the grey hoodie, and a strange statue of an asian man towering over everyone in the back. I call him zen man. The beat drops and see what looks like the entirety of /r/streetwear bounce in and out of frame. The camera pans around and then all of a sudden everyone behind Orange beanie man looks up and to their left at what I can only assume is someone committing suicide on the balcony behind them. Carry on. Everyone continues on getting buck. Orange Beanie man even helped a man off the floor while rapping and bouncing about. Camera cuts to blue keffiyeh man browsing twitter Cut through a couple Orange Beanie Man songs Zen man is now joined by Black shirt Buddha. Another cameraman is spotted bouncing through the crowd getting footage that I assume is comparable to Cloverfield if it was filmed by Michael J. Fox. I'm sure he will stabilize it in post. Orange Beanie Man is joined by Mega Dread Man who spits a verse Orange Beanie Man drops some unreleased s--- produced by Oogie Mane and it's f---ing lit. Crowd goes Woodstock 99 in that bih. Orange Beanie Man is forcibly relocated to the corner of the room. Audience camera man still probably getting terrible footage. Orange Beanie Man needs to go outside to get air. Cut to Matt OX and it's immediately f---ing lit. Hordes of people jumping around him creating a protective cocoon. He's barely visible. Song ends. Next song winds up, LIT. Yet again. Primary cameraman struggles to get a better angle. OH s---. WHERE IS MATT?!? HE'S JUST A BOY. BE CAREFUL. Cut to a different angle. He is ok. "alrightphillyshoutoutphilly215gangYAHEARD!!" primal child scream Chick with her t-ts out bouncing right in front of Matt lol. Can’t tell if he isn’t phased by them or just doesn’t quite understand. Etiher way, he’s locked in. THIS N THAT DROPS Crowd gets rowdy. Everyone protects Matt. Camera slowly pans towards the front of the venue to reveal an older man leaning on what looks like a refrigerator stacked on another refrigerator, bobbing his head and vibing to Matt Ox. What the f--- is this crowd? What is this place? Song ends and Matt spits a super fast freestyle out of f---ing nowhere. Matt finally stands up on a speaker where people can see him and performs "Michael Myers." He slides into his zone. Song ends and he just keeps rapping freestyle. This kid is locked in. Beat ends and he just keeps going. primal child scream As Matt continued through his set sort of surreal vibe set in while I was watching it. The camera panned around as I watched this crowd full of people from all walks of life, packed from wall to wall, vibing and enjoying this kid rapper. You can hear the passion and enthusiasm in his voice. You can tell that he's just a kid who loves rapping, doing what he loves. It's doesn't feel like some weird cash grab, or cultural appropriation, or anything. There was a pureness to it and not just because of his age. It was... refreshing. A lot of shows are really turnt to the max these days, but it feels like the passion is coming more so from the audience than the performer. From skipping over giant swaths of their own lyrics to, lip synching, to just lackadaisical delivery, a lot of rappers don't inject passion into the crowd. They inject hype. The passion from Matt Ox in this show in this little hole in the wall, even if for just a brief moment, reinvigorated my passion for hip-hop. I came into this thinking Matt Ox was just some little kid cashing in on a hype wave who was mildly entertaining as a brief meme. While much remains to be seen, I think this kid may be legit. Link:
