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Image via Chollette
20-year-old Chicagoan Femdot raps like every word matters—not necessarily that every word is painstakingly chosen, but that every recorded second presents an opportunity to pour his soul out. Brief new EP fo(u)r channels easy, sunny nostalgia in an impressive manner for such a young artist.
It would be easy to draw a casual line from Femdot back to now decade-old pairing of two Chicago legends, Common and Kanye West, but his music feels more closely at heart with the soul-anchored hip-hop that pushed 9th Wonder and Little Brother to prominence. A warm spirit courses through fo(u)r, like sun sneaking through a window crack to overheat a bedroom studio. Even the radio show conceit on standout track “97′” hearkens back to Little Brother’s seminal debut and sophomore albums The Listening and The Minstrel Show. “97′”) showcases the projects thesis in action, as well: It uses a sample from a classic rap song (Seals & Croft’s “Sweet Green Fields,” made famous in Busta Rhymes’ “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See”) as the bedrock for a song that manages to cleverly talk about women, money, and partying with a charming flair that suggests the imagination of a young dreamer rather than jaded hedonism of a superstar.
Listen to fo(u)r below in preparation for Femdot’s upcoming project Delacreme.
