This yr’s underground has been providing up among the most intriguing new hip-hop in a generation-plus, and among the many extra beat-charged efforts that I’ve heard out of the style’s storied underground circuit on the west coast comes from none aside from Joe West. West is a New York-born rising star on the scene, however his new single, “I’m Him,” is a provocative, chicly-mixed banger seemingly tailored for the gritty panorama that mainstream rap has turn out to be within the final couple of years within the NYC metro space. It didn’t take me far more than a cursory hearken to not solely perceive what all the hype surrounding this single has been about however to get onto the bandwagon myself.   

One factor that I discover proper off the bat in “I’m Him” is the truth that there aren’t any bombastic components inserted into the entrance of the combo – there are simply muscular melodies and an entire lot of panache coming from behind the mic courtesy of West. The rhythm is medium-rare, and there’s a doable argument to be made that this is without doubt one of the solely tracks to emerge from the shadows of New York in 2023 not steeped in groove-centric verses.   Each component on this track will get its share of the highlight, and there’s by no means an event on which we really feel like West is pitting one a part of a concord towards one other in some quest for sonic supremacy within a three-minute rap single. 

As sturdy another sound as “I’m Him” has, there’s no denying the understated east coast vitality that our main man is bringing into the sales space with him on this observe. Raised in what’s arguably New York Metropolis’s most musical underground scene, it could be subsequent to not possible for Joe West to have come out of his hometown with out bearing a few equally swaggering strikes that his forerunners as soon as championed some thirty years in the past. Above the whole lot else, I like that I’m not capable of simply pin this man down as being a west coast/east coast rapper – he’s too distinctive a person, and extra pressingly, too proficient an artist, for me to even contemplate putting him into some prepped class shared by gamers with half the expertise he’s obtained. 

Solely time will inform for sure, however based mostly on what I’m listening to on this track, I believe that it’s secure to say we are able to count on a number of good issues from Joe West sooner or later. He’s steering away from a number of the eccentricities which have relegated his contemporaries to insular markets with little likelihood of ever interesting to anybody else, and by adhering to a standard pop framework in “I’m Him,” he’s maximizing his attain as a rapper and as a songwriter, which is one thing that I want to see his youthful brethren attempt someday. With a slight nudge into the limelight of the New York stage, this artist goes to be off and working as if he have been born to form this subsequent chapter in popular culture historical past. 

Mindy McCall