Jaeychino. Image from the "Hope" music video.
Rap Blog is a weekly showcase of a standout rap song.
Plug the title of this chaotic DMV gem into a search bar and you’ll reveal a litany of fan-uploaded clips from the steamy alternate history drama with a combined view count well into the eight digits. Jaeychino probably doesn’t have a favorite character — the “Bridgerton Sex Scene” in question is a fleeting detail from an otherwise unremarkable Netflix and chill session — though I wouldn’t be surprised if he wound up shouting out Nicola Loughlin before Season 4 drops.
His latest mixtape WATCH THE THRONE finds the Northwest DC artist rapping with ease over instrumentals by SJR, evilgiane and sxprano that swing from midtempo moodsetters to chaotic flips of Imogen Heap and the Cranberries. These 15 breakneck tracks run just 23 minutes and Jaeychino makes the most of every beat, swinging from pensive struggle raps to uninhibited stunting without hesitation. The former category includes opener “Last Hope,” where Jaeychino bitterly details the tough times prior to his present success, but “Bridgerton Sex Scene” falls firmly in the latter camp: “I'm tootin' my horn cause I know I'm that n****.” A few seconds later, he’ll shoutout Richmond’s finest while detailing his pharmaceutical consumption, grinning, “In love with the drink, bitch, I feel like I'm Nettspend.”
Jaeychino shouts out other hard-partying white men like Charlie Sheen and Justin Bieber, offering a succinct snapshot of just how unhinged the haywire SJR and Lucid740 production has the young rapper feeling. But even in the midst of this cacophony, sprinting from hook to mini-verse and back again without pausing, he never sounds off-balance. The title of WATCH THE THRONE reads like a coronation for one of the DMV’s rising stars — Jaeychino makes wearing the crown seem as light as a feather
