Rap Blog: RealYungPhil and MIKE shred digital waves

Rap Blog is a weekly showcase of a standout rap song written by Vivian Medithi and Nadine Smith.

London producer WTFOMARI! has a knack for carving out hypnotically swoopy synths (see: “SNOWFLAKE” by Evilgiane and K$upreme), but they tend to be playfully cushioned in more approachable melodies indebted to pluggnb. RealYungPhil and MIKE need no such padding to feel comfortable, and so “No Amends'' first whirrs to life like the THX sound test, then like the GameBoy startup noise, resonant tones submerging listeners as chimes twinkle above like sunlight on water.

“Never thought it would happen like this,” Phil dives in as the drums flicker on. “They ain’t see me, I was moving swift.” As far as flows, MIKE and Phil are among their generation’s most seaworthy lyricists — their bars coast glassily over beats that would drown less buoyant rappers. “I can see through these n****s like a lens,” RealYungPhil sighs. His deadpan verse, so nice he spits it twice, tees up and caps off a slushily melodic interlude from MIKE, scoffing at the competition: “They ain’t all that they say in them raps.” In the night vision music video, the pair smoke a joint in a Benz and dance around a warehouse loading zone, alternately bathed in jade and amber light. No matter how choppy the waves get, MIKE and RealYungPhil will sail on through, lax and limber.