Mykki Blanco, the alter ego of 25-year-old Michael Quattlebaum (seriously, how often do you get an alias that’s less weird than the real name?), is a remarkable proposition. A transvestite “acid punk rapper”, who has turned heads not just through cross-dressing but with some truly fierce, deep-space hip-hop, Blanco is all about fucking with people’s heads. For example, who else would insist on releasing an album of industrial psych rock before the rap record that everyone’s clamouring for comes out? Raised in North Carolina via California, Blanco now operates out of (where else) New York, where the music and fashion scenes are falling ever deeper in thrall.
There are, of course, similarities to Nikki Minaj that run beyond a familiar-sounding first name. The predeliction for gender-blurring multiple identities is one, and the confrontational, occasionally histrionic delivery is another. Admittedly, Blanco’s rapping isn’t quite as ear-catching as Minaj’s (despite the lyrics often being hilariously brilliant: “What the fuck I gotta prove to a room full of dudes / Who ain’t listening to my words cuz they staring at my shoes”), but the productions are fantastic. “Betty Rubble (I GOT THE MIDAS TOUCH)”, produced by Gobby, is sparse and sinister, with Blanco’s vocals twisted and helium-ized, while the astonishing “Wavvy”, produced by the be-quiffed Brenmar, is an absolute stomper that knocks the ball not just out of the park but somewhere beyond the nineteenth moon of Jupiter.
Hip hop was getting into a rut a couple of years ago, full of tedious, identikit rappers with not an ounce of imagination between them. Now, with artists like Spoek Mathambo, Le1f, THEESatisfaction, A$AP Rocky and the whole unpredictable Odd Future crew around, things are finally starting to heat up again. Mykki Blanco is the most bizarre arrival yet. Don’t take your eyes off him (or his shoes).
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