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Desiigner panda3/7/2023 ![]() The best shot at getting New York’s attention was to sell thousands of tapes out of your own trunk. But while the indie hustle could be profitable, the majors offered a whole other level of success. A network of labels, distributors, promoters and A&Rs came together on the fly, rooting the industry in the five boroughs, and hip-hop was biased towards New York from that point on. During the time when it seemed like anyone in the tri-state area who could hold their own in a cipher was landing a major deal, independent rap labels were popping up across the country. Hip-hop caught on fast after its inception in the late ‘70s in the Bronx, and while a skeptical and pretty racist music industry saw it as a fad and limited its investment, rap continued to grow and develop its own machinery. While French Montana is obviously influenced by Harlem’s Max B, he also came up trapping alongside Waka Flocka Flame. ![]() A$AP Rocky borrowed his style from Memphis. Before a weapons charge landed him in jail, Bobby Shmurda (and his GS9 partner Rowdy Rebel) rode Chicago-born drill rap to success. The bigger issue is that Desiigner is a Brooklyn rapper who sounds like an Atlanta rapper, and New York has a checkered history of capitalizing on the music of other regions of late. Right or wrong, Desiigner is not the first rapper to break out with a version of another artist’s sound.īut this goes a little deeper than lack of creativity. On ‘Rapper’s Delight’, Big Bank Hank is literally spitting Grandmaster Caz lyrics, and even says Caz’s name in the track. While biting is generally frowned upon, it’s also ingrained in rap history: Snoop Dogg lifted a lot of E–40’s slang, Master P lifted Tupac’s whole style, and Shyne was a bootleg Biggie. After all, they reasoned, Future is an extremely influential artist of course there will be imitators. Last week, someone I respect expressed surprise at the disdain people have for Desiigner. It’s hard not to feel like Desiigner is eating Future’s food. But Desiigner has the hottest song in the country right now, and though Future has three singles in the current Hot 100 (‘Low Life’ with The Weeknd at #21, ‘Jumpman’ with Drake at #25, and ‘New Level’ with A$AP Ferg at #100), he’s still yet to return to the heights of last year’s all-consuming DS2. Granted, Future was already famous when the chart compilers began folding streaming numbers into their figures, so it’s not a direct comparison. The awkward fact is that ‘Panda’ is now, by official metrics, more successful than any single Future has ever released. New York has a checkered history of capitalizing on the music of other regions When Kanye debuted ‘Father’ at his Madison Square Garden listening party for The Life Of Pablo, most fans assumed that was Future talking about his broads in Atlanta. Desiigner’s woozy, subtly Auto-Tuned raps juxtaposed with hype ad libs are the best Future impression imaginable. To say ‘Panda’ is inspired by Future would be putting it extremely lightly. Meanwhile, every rapper on Earth is rushing to record their own ‘Panda’ freestyle, from Lady Leshurr to Lupe Fiascoto Meek Mill. Kanye’s interpolation sits around #50 in the chart (impressive for a track not pushed as a single). This week it topped the Billboard Hot 100, making it the first #1 by a rapper from New York in a decade. Since that bump, ‘Panda’ has become ubiquitous. 2’ on The Life Of Pablo and signing Desiigner to his label, G.O.O.D. Yeezy ended up repurposing ‘Panda’ into ‘Father Stretch My Hands Pt. The track was good, and after earning a little local buzz, it somehow made its way to Kanye West. He bought the beat from a producer in England for $200. Andrew Friedman unravels the latest episode in New York’s history of borrowing from other rap regions.ĭesiigner’s rise to fame is the stuff of legend. ‘Panda’, the Brooklyn rapper’s breakout hit about a black and white car that may or may not actually exist, was one of the first things he ever recorded. His detractors say he’s ripping off Future, but the controversy surrounding the 19-year-old New Yorker’s rise to fame is rooted in something much bigger. Desiigner’s ‘Panda’ is the number one song in America right now.
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