Maryland rapper SIR E.U’s “nike boy” sounds like hip-hop’s current fixation on future bounce beats and house rhythms filtered through the eerie tone of a broken music box.
Off-kilter and up-tempo (it feels more like a sped up glitch beat or a Flying Lotus outtake than anything), “nike boy” suggests the territory left yet to explore in the recent marriage of hip-hop and electronic music. E.U handles his unusual beat selection ably, tap-dancing across a buoyant rhythm with intricate verses that demand multiple listens. It’s a dizzying package made all the more mesmerizing by director Unkle Luc’s eerily psychedelic visual treatment. Watch above.
