Duckwrth

One Liner: Surprisingly good rap and mediocre R&B

Wikipedia Genre: His Wikipedia doesn't say a genre, but hip hop and rap.
Home: LA

Poster Position: 15

Both Weekends.

Thoughts:  If I'm being totally honest, when I looked at his Spotify and saw that a song from the Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse soundtrack was his top song, I was bummed out.  I really liked that movie, but all I think about when I see that album cover is that damn Post Malone song that my kids love and makes me want to die.  Instead, though, this track is a freaking banger.  Not sure which rapper is Duckwrth and which one is Shaboozey (which is a horrible stage name), but either way, the ominous beat and yelled lyrics make me want to punch a hole into every supersuit ever worn in the MCU.

I'm also a sucker for horns used in a rap song, and that (admittedly fake ass synth) horn thing gets me as soon as this song starts.  Whatever, that song bangs.  It's also his top track by a bunch, with 26.1 million streams.  My middle kid plays a lacrosse tournament today and I just sent her a link to that track to get hyped before her game.  I used to use Pantera, but she's more of a trap beat kind of gal.

But, I'm still thinking that this guy is an unknown, until I see the artwork for his 2016 album I'M UUGLY, which I absolutely reviewed a few years ago.  Totally rings a bell, even if I can';t recall the music at all.  Here is my review of that old album: 

"Duckwrth - I'M UUGLY.  Weird to be listening to this dude right after listening to Kendrick rap about his dad in "DUCKWORTH."  Maybe this is Kendrick Lamar's dad!  I just solved a huge mystery!  
Why can't people just use all of the proper letters that should go in a word? This is how we end up with Desiigner and Paerish and Haelos and LVLUP and PWR BTTM. We're better than this, people.  
I read a bit about this guy - he was raised in South Central by a Pentecostal mother who didn't let him outside much for fear of what would happen to him on the streets, so he spent a lot of time in his own head-space.  Sounds familiar to me.  Art school drop out, lived in San Fran for a while.  If you want to go in depth with the guy, go here. It is an interesting album, odd in comparison to the more straight-forward rap dominating the current space.  None of the tracks are runaway popular on Spotify, his top one is "I'M DEAD" at 307k [now at 5.2 million].

Oh, OK.  Now I hear the Anderson-Paak influence here.  That tune is fun and loose.  Good times can be had while listening to that tune.  I feel like the weirdness of this album is best represented in "RUUUN," where it sounds like a cowbell-inflected sunshine tune (again channeling Paak) that erupts into a screaming chorus that sounds more like a De La Soul-meets-Body Count breakdown. Like that track, this album feels like it is all over the place.  I won't keep it around."

Since then, he put out an XTRA UUGLY Mixtape in 2017 and a 2019 album (only 8 songs long) called THE FALLING MAN (bonus points for spelling that correctly).  Overall, I like this stuff.  The guy claims to have loved the G-Funk stuff from Snoop Dogg and DJ Quik, saying "The notes in the progressions that they chose to play are literally like satisfying to the ear and to the soul," he says. "And it also kind of reminded me of, you know, the music I was allowed to hear, which is like, they for sure had Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire vinyls in the crib."

His second-most streamed track comes from that 2017 mixtape, and is called "MICHUUL," with 14.5 million streams.

s'ok.  Kind of a nice groove, but again kind of like the Anderson.Paak stuff that is a cool groove but not much else.

He's got a hot new single that uses some old school James Brown action to spark up the excitement.  "UNSTATUS QUO" is super fun.  But that track isn't on his newest album, THE FALLING MAN.  I figured that the top song would be the kind of emo-ish "LOVE IS LIKE A MOSHPIT," but its another one called "FALL BACK," with 2.5 million streams.

Good one there too.  I'm into this guy.  or at least I am in to the rap side of his persona, I think I can do without some of the R&B stuff, but you get both sides, so I'll still say that I dig it.  I might go try this one out.