Week of 9/8: Maxo Kream x Tyler the Creator, Alex G, The Ergs
Michael and Eli chop it up over a new rap banger, Eric revisits an Alex G deep cut, and Miranda glows about "the worst fucking song" Michael's ever heard.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him), Eric Bennett (they/them), Michael Brooks (he/him) and Miranda Reinert (she/her). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. On Substack, we’re also a weekly roundup of songs. Our format is simple: each of our four hosts picks a song they love and writes about it. There will be one free post every week, and more at the end of every month for paid subscribers. For the sake of your wallet, don’t start a paid subscription on Substack. Instead, sign up at the 2$ tier or higher on Patreon and we will gift you a subscription.
“Big Persona” - Maxo Kream x Tyler, The Creator
Eli Enis:
Michael and I don’t agree on everything. For instance, I think Solar Power is a meta-commentary on lazy meta-commentaries that is itself so ham-fistedly thrown together that it’s both intentionally and unintentionally, I think, the subject of its own stoney lamentations. That’s some Inception shit, but I don’t like Christopher Nolan movies, and Michael and I probably don’t agree on that either (I can hear him now, flabbergastedly muttering to himself, “You don’t like Christopher Nolan movies??? OK, Scorsese”). One thing we definitely agree on, though, is that Tyler, The Creator’s new album, Call Me If You Get Lost, is one of the greatest musical gifts of what’s already been a pretty damn great year for new music. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s been a couple marquee rap albums that have dropped over the last couple weeks, and not a song on either of them holds a candle to the glowing majesty of tracks like “Lemonhead,” “Lumberjack,” “Massa,” “Manifesto,” “Hot Wind Blows” — pretty much any song on that Tyler record.
“Big Persona” isn’t on the Tyler record. In fact, it seems like it’s going to end up on the next Maxo Kream record, but it certainly sounds like a leftover from the Call Me sessions — or maybe leftover isn’t the right word. Reprise. That’s better, because this two-and-a-half-minute cut was produced by Tyler and boasts all the qualities that make the triumphant songs on Call Me so exciting. The trunk-clattering beat that makes the wind chimes wobble when you drive past; the dick-swinging horn blasts during the hook that Tyler uses to adorn his grunting proclamations of “big money, big cars, big jewels;” the tender piano key change during the guest’s hook, in this case Maxo, that yanks away the menace so that it only hits harder when it comes smashing back in through the living room window.
The lyrics are all flexes, but they’re the specific type of over-the-top, palpably giddy, ear-to-ear smiling flexes that make Call Me, spoken-word interludes and DJ Drama ad-libs and all, so goddamn fun to listen to. “We ain't good, bitch, we doin' great,” Maxo raps with his concrete delivery that almost feels swallowed up by the stadium-sized ambiance surrounding him. “Big ass mansion, new estate / Friendly neighbors, pearly gates / Sippin' Arnold Palmers with my momma chillin' by the lake.” That could easily be any given line from Call Me, and Maxo would’ve made an incredible guest on that record, so it’s super satisfying to hear the pair link up on this cut.
Michael Brooks:
Halfway through the bloated mess that is Donda—hold on, what did you say? Oh, we don’t have to write about that? Alright, well give me just a second.
[a few moments later]
Moments into Drake’s latest project, the Certified Lover Boy himself flips “Michelle” into—wait, really? We’re not doing that one either? You mean, we can talk about something I actually enjoy? Well Eli, I guess you’re the boss after all. Let me try this one last time.
What an incredible run Tyler, the Creator has been on this year. Back in 2020, following a couple of albums where Tyler started to drift away from rapping in favor of pop and R&B, he started popping up on albums by guys like Freddie Gibbs and Westside Gunn—which wasn’t completely unfathomable at the time but looking back it was really just a taste of what was to come. Tyler has always been a talented rapper, he just never really seemed all that interested in making it the focal point of what he does, so when he dropped Call Me If You Get Lost back in June, complete with DJ Drama, people were really excited. I know that I was really excited, Call Me If You Get Lost might very well be the best thing he’s ever done, and that spirit is still going strong on “Big Persona,” the latest from Houston rapper Maxo Kream, which Tyler not only raps on but also produced.
As much as “Big Persona” is a victory lap for Tyler, it also serves as a reminder of how great Maxo Kream is and how much fun it is to listen to him rapping. In a song where both rappers are bragging about how big everything they own is, my favorite moment happens to be the one where Maxo describes his big ass mansion, a place where he and his mom can chill by the lake and sip Arnold Palmers together. All of the flexing and shit-talking aside, “Big Persona” is a track that’s filled with character, thanks in part to Tyler’s production, which harkens back to his earlier work. Even though the production is a little bit more subdued this time around, you can still hear how far he's come as a producer. Kicking things off with the same overstuffed horns that propelled “LEMONHEAD,” Maxo sounds right at home—even during the second half of his verse when Tyler throws in some jazzy chords that sound like a reworked Goblin b-side, Maxo effortlessly glides across the beat. “Big Persona” is the collaboration I never knew I needed, now if you’ll excuse me I’ll be sitting here, patiently waiting for Maxo’s new album which drops in October.
Alex G - “Bad Man”
Eric Bennett:
This weekend I saw the excellent Katy Kirby open for Waxahatchee. Kirby’s set was impressive, her stage presence very specific to her, full of quiet, bemused laughs, like when the audience thought her song “Secret Language,” which interpolates “Hallelujah” in its opening lines, was a cover of the Cohen classic. Kirby did her set with a cover, though, of the Alex G song “Bad Man.” While I’d like to hear Kirby’s take, which made it more straightforwardly a rock song, I’ve revisited the original throughout the past few days since.
“Bad Man” wasn’t a song from House of Sugar that grabbed me upon release. I was too distracted by “Hope” or “SugarHouse (Live).” Kirby’s version helped me understand just how much is in its lyrics, which are muddled in the original. Alex G’s vocal effects are interesting, but they mask evocative lines like “When the bomb dropped, I was 22 / Buried under black dirt, how about you?.” Like the protagonist buried under black dirt and rubble, this song feels buried beneath House of Sugar’s cold, glassy synth tones and eccentric electronic qualities. This is one of the record’s few sonic callbacks to the country-forward moments on Rocket, just covered in a shiny, Sugar veneer. I have a new appreciation for the song now that I’ve seen it pulled apart and put back together.
In a few weeks, I’ll be seeing Alex G on the same stage Kirby played. There’s a good chance “Bad Man” will find its way into that setlist. I’m excited to see him bring it to life in the way only that setting can.
The Ergs - “A Very Pretty Song For a Very Special Young Lady, Pt. 2”
Miranda Reinert:
I had the distinct pleasure of hanging out in real life with my friend and co-host Michael Brooks last Friday while visiting my home state of Illinois. While we drove into Chicago he got to listen to all of my favorite Dudes Rock bands, but there was one song we listened to that he described publicly as “the worst fucking song I’ve ever heard.”
And that song was “A Very Pretty Song For a Very Special Young Lady, Pt. 2” by The Ergs! And don’t get me wrong.. I get it. I don’t agree, but I get it. It’s hyperactive, nasally pop punk more in the Fest-core way than pop punk of the tumblr, Story So Far variety, though I think early Wonder Years stuff isn’t far from it. I mean that in a positive way. I love The Ergs! I think it’s fun and dorky and contains absolutely no subtlety and that’s why I like it. This song specifically hits on the sort of very mid-2000s dork dude, unrequited love trope that makes it a perfect candidate for a certain Type Of Guy to put on a playlist he’s making for a girl he has a crush on. That’s a Type Of Guy Michael told me he “didn’t know existed” until he talked to me. A Type Of Guy for whom The Ergs! are implicitly, unquestioningly beloved.
I guess I am also that Type of Guy in a lot of ways. Or at least I’ve been on the receiving end of those playlists and end up dating those guys. It’s music that brings me pure joy in a way few other things do. (It’s also fun in a way that I think would ruin Eric Bennett’s day so if you’re reading this and want to give the pod $10 to listen to Dork Rock Cork Rod I beg you to do it.)