Wednesday 7/15: SahBabii—“Ready To Eat”
Today, we share our thoughts on “Ready To Eat” by the Atlanta rapper SahBabii. We’re joined by official Endless Scroll hip-hop contributor Michael Brooks.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc.
Today, we share our thoughts on “Ready To Eat” by the Atlanta rapper SahBabii. We’re joined by official Endless Scroll hip-hop contributor Michael Brooks.
SahBabii—“Ready To Eat”
Michael Brooks:
Barnacles, the latest project from Atlanta rapper SahBabii, sounds like an artifact from some parallel universe where the music of Young Thug and Lil B are taught in public schools. The influence of Youth Thug has morphed into a ghost that could forever haunt the current generation of Atlanta crooners and hitmakers, but where Thugger and his most loyal disciples have slowly drifted towards the mainstream, SahBabii has only gotten weirder and hornier. There is no greater joy than discovering the music of SahBabii for the first time, a process that makes you ask yourself questions like “Why is this dude so enamored with water?” and “Why is he always rapping about animals?” With its ethereal production, Barnacles highlight “Ready To Eat” sounds like something that Pi’erre Bourne would cook up for Playboi Carti, but SahBabii’s easygoing delivery is a complete 180 from the anxious energy of Carti’s squawks, and the track is a bubbly earworm that gently lodges its way into your brain.
Eli Enis:
With an inverted cross tattoo planted between his eyes, SahBabii appears like an even more menacing version of his Atlanta elder 21 Savage, who iconically sports a flipped version of the same tattoo in that very spot. But alas, looks can be deceiving. As a rapper, specifically on his new track “Ready To Eat”, SahBabii’s gooey croon practically melts into the beat below (a far cry from Savage’s icy posture). His flow and cadence is very Atlanta, but his gel-like vocal timbre makes him more akin to Drain Gang cloud rappers than many of his extroverted contemporaries; the Nudy’s, Gunna’s, and Keed’s of the world would thrash and gurgle over this beat. SahBabii comes off as a total goofball once you actually read what he’s saying (“I was born when a squid fucked the GOAT”), but he’s not flashy about it. The beginning of the “Ready To Eat” video begins with him standing in a parking lot pulling a “cool guys don’t look at explosions”-type stance while two of his goons rifle through glove compartments in the background. It’s a crime that hinges on the art of not drawing attention to oneself, and that’s the same sort of nonchalant stealth that SahBabii channels as a rapper.