Desiigner—the man behind your favorite Uber rating ruining #1 single, "Panda"—was recently given the honor of joining XXL's 2016 freshman class. The feat is unlikely not only because no one knew who he was until his song appeared on Kanye West's album, or because most people (myself included) assumed Desiigner was actually just Future when we first heard "Panda." It's because "Panda" is actually the only song Desiigner has officially released since becoming a rapper all of a year ago.
Over the weekend, two important things happened in Desiigner's life. He released his first ever mixtape, New English. For the most part, it's a forgettable collection of songs. (The one standout "Da Day," is incredibly energetic but hardly features Desiigner himself.) But more importantly, XXL released Desiigner's freshman freestyle, which instantly went viral. Though the clip is just 45 seconds long, it's time well spent. In it, the 19-year-old sings a hook from an unreleased song, and it's by far the most soothing and melodic he has ever sounded.
Some have called it gospel-esque. Others think the opposite, that it's satanic. Whatever this hook is, it's really good, especially when you consider the nostalgia-inspiring lyrics. "Timmy Timmy Timmy Turner / He be wishing for a burner / To kill everybody walkin' / You know that it's on the furnace". Is this Fairly Oddparents reference a comment on kids in 2016 needing guns to protect themselves against psychopaths? Who knows, but it was stuck in my head all weekend. And yet at the end of the day the "freestyle" is just an a capella track that spawned a ton of attempts to lay the vocals over a beat, most of which were pretty bad.
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But now, a clip has surfaced of Desiigner in the studio listening to the fully-produced version of the song. And it sounds flat-out fire. Call him fake Future or a one hit wonder, but truth is Desiigner is slowly but surely proving, one song at a time (singles seem to be more his format than albums), that he's worthwhile.
