KOOL A.D. is Bandcamp’s most underappreciatedly prolific artist. Since late November, the Das Racist alum has quietly released a pair of labrynthine, genre-hopping 100-track mixtapes, a record’s worth of sunburned beach-pop that recalls Captured Tracks’ early discography, and more autotuned free-verse covers of radio hits that even his most fervent fans could ask for. Lyrically ranging from self-parodical recitations of English Studies jargon to sequences of cryptic inside jokes while applying a heavy arsenal of trippy edits to his production, it’s tough to predict what sort of creative path KOOL A.D.’s boundless imagination will guide on him next.
THE TYRANY OF WORDS AM I RITE
— KOOL A.D. (@veeveeveeveevee) July 28, 2016
It’s this usual adherence to weirdness that makes this latest venture his most surprising move to date. The appropriately titled OFFICIAL is more than a flirtation with professionalism — it’s a full-on dinner date, decked out with wavy Trackademics beats and laid-back flows that resemble a scientifically-engineered E-40/Omarion/Lil B hybrid programmed to effortlessly hammer out late-night driving music.
Though nowhere near as cerebral as past efforts like the amorphous GODS OF TOMORROW or imposingly dense O.K., OFFICIAL is a refreshingly fun effort that’s as laced with KOOL A.D.’s familiar post-ironic sense of slacker humor as ever. Imagine David Foster Wallace following up Infinite Jest with a meta-modernist airport paperback — OFFICIAL is its audiobook companion.
RIP WHITE RAPPER DAVID FOSTER WALLACE CC @DAPWELL
— KOOL A.D. (@veeveeveeveevee) September 13, 2012
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