“ig reels”

One of my small joys during the pandemic doldrums was opening my SoundCloud feed to some of the most ridiculously crammed cyphers I’d ever seen. Anywhere from five to two dozen rappers would trade off every 30 seconds like a middle-school talent show. ivvys’ madcap “ig reels” restores the collaborative chaos of golden age digicore. The song hits like one of the many freaky and noxious concoctions you find while scrolling shortform videos these days, but it twists the radioactive bile into a five-minute, nine-artist freestyle. The stepTeam CEO’s beat dribbles out delightful ploinks that sound like Pikmin performing a ceremonial ritual; dissociated Swamp Izzo and Carti “Siyah!” cries erupt from the void. Yrsci throws out a Rich Amiri stray and shouts out Zatru and 2slimey; friends compares the beat to a “lame ass chicken crying” and “two hyenas fighting.” By the end, it’s hard to tell whether this is the worst song ever made or a glorious distillation of friendship.