Song Review: Young Posse – Freestyle

Thus far in their career, Young Posse have waffled between quirky, colorful music and more subdued bids to be taken seriously in the hip-hop realm. They’re at their best somewhere in the middle, such as last year’s fun 90’s throwback Ate That. New single Freestyle borrows some of this energy but also falls victim to a familiar K-pop hazard.

My perception of rap music may simply be colored by the era I was first introduced to the genre, but I tend to lean in closer when rappers take a more nuanced approach to their delivery. Too often in K-pop, the urge is to go louder and shoutier, but you rarely hear rappers in the Western market take this route. The closest analog I can think of is Beastie Boys, and honestly I’ve always found their shoutier tracks quite irritating. As an actual song, Freestyle is a lot of fun, but Young Posse’s overblown performance makes it difficult to enjoy.

It’s almost as if there’s a thread of insecurity driving Freestyle — a constant sense of “listen to me! If you’re not listening, I’ll just get LOUDER!!” This approach isn’t needed because the group has skill and their best songs are compelling on their own merits. I love Freestyle‘s punchy, full-bodied production, but the track needs more variety. When the girls do switch things up, it’s in the form of an ill-fitting jazz breakdown that interrupts the elements that make Freestyle fun. An awesome song exists somewhere within this frenzied arrangement, but it’s all a bit of a mess. And at 2:21, it’s a very short mess!

Grade: C+