Wednesday 9/16: Baby Smoove—"Drank Juice"
Today, we share our thoughts on a new track by the Detroit rapper Baby Smoove.
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 a new song by the Detroit rapper Baby Smoove. We’re joined by none other than Endless Scroll hip-hop correspondent Michael Brooks.
Baby Smoove—"Drank Juice"
Michael Brooks:
If you’re reading this post, that means you’re one of the few people that checks the Endless Scroll newsletter for our hip-hop coverage, and for that I’d like to take a moment and thank you. I know that it might not be as sexy as reading Eli and Eric tackle hyperpop or whatever zoomer shit they write about when I’m not around (to be perfectly honest with you, the reader, I’ve never read a single blurb for the newsletter that I didn’t write myself, I’m only here to ride their wave of success and hopefully one day get that Complex byline I’ve been dreaming of ever since I bought my first pair of Yeezys from StockX) but I hope that we’re able to bring a little bit of joy to your hump day every week, and even more than that I really hope that we’ve been able to introduce you to some new song that you might not have checked out otherwise. Now, let’s get to the good shit, specifically, the music video for “Drank Juice” by Detroit rapper Baby Smoove.
You’re probably saying to yourself, “Another Detroit rapper?” You’re not? Oh, my bad. I didn’t mean to—no, you go first. You what? Sorry, it’s kind of hard to hear you over the loud music blaring from that Fuddruckers they just opened up next door. You thought that last week’s script for that Valee joint was gimmicky? We won’t do anything like that again, I promise. Oh, I can finish the blurb now? Thanks. The video opens up on Baby Smoove, who’s holding a gun and strumming it like a guitar, and it’s honestly the coolest shit that I’ve ever seen in my life.
The track comes from his most recent release Im Still Perfect, which I’ve been listening to nonstop for the past month or so. Baby Smoove has that super soft delivery that I normally gravitate towards, he’s basically the rap version of a Hot Toddy, but he juxtaposes that with a lot of extremely intimidating bars. He’s basically somewhere between Sada Baby and Valee, who are two of my favorite rappers right now, so obviously I’m all in on Baby Smoove. “Drank Juice” is one of my favorite tracks off his new project, it blends together the etherealness of cloud rap with the grittiness of the stuff that’s coming out of Detroit right now in a really interesting way, and I’m super excited to hear whatever Baby Smoove does next.
Eli Enis:
Resident Fuddruckers Hamburger Consumer Michael Brooks laid it out brilliantly above, but yeah, this shit rules so hard. I’ve listened to this track probably 10 times in the last 24 hours and it somehow has only gotten better and more addictive. Something about this song is giving me chills right now, the type I got from hearing Young Thug’s “Stoner” for the first time back in 2013 and thinking, “What the fuck is this?”, and then again when I heard Playboi Carti’s “Shoota” in 2018. I just have this feeling that Baby Smoove is gonna blow the fuck up. I love that Brooks compared him to a Hot Toddy because I think that’s funny as hell.
However, what I like most about this song is the subtle sense of menace and devil-horned chaos in his delivery. It brings to mind the vibes of a Future song like “I Serve The Base”; something you can turn up to but could also soundtrack a tweaking nightmare. I just really love Baby Smoove’s driveway seal auto-tune (smooth, evenly-displaced, and thin, but mesmerizingly dark) and his matter-of-fact sing-song that doesn’t fall into the same melodic tropes of an A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie or Roddy Ricch type. There’s a whole legion of rappers pushing auto-tune to its psychedelic and noisy extremes right now, and I love a whole lot of that shit. But there’s something really refreshing about Baby Smoove’s tempered yet vivid style of sing-rap filtered through crisp, unwavering auto-tune.