mixtape maestro (2.0)

With Lil’ Mama spending less of her days rocking the mic than she is judging dance crews and inexplicably remodeling herself as more of a generic teen-pop princess, what’s a listener craving a new-generation Roxanne Shante-meets-Missy Elliott rappress to do? How about turn their attention to Rye Rye, an 18-year-old Baltimore native with a wicked flow and a promising position as the first act signed to M.I.A’s N.E.E.T. label.

For the past two years, Rye has slowly been generating buzz thanks to collaborations with blogger-approved DJ’s Diplo, Blaqstarr and The Count & Sinden, and even spent some time touring alongside her “Paper Planes”-singing CEO.

On her latest offering “Bang”, she jumps atop a previously released Blaqstarr/ MIA mixtape cut and lets loose a fiery blast of manic rhyme furor that’s in perfect compliment to the track’s tribal-like, drum-and-chant delirium. Denouncing all the lames that can’t hang with her rapid-fire rhythm and offering a stern warning to nasty little boys with their minds in the gutter (“What?/ Don’t think so slick/ If you thinkin’ opposite/ I’m-a bang your lips”) without breaking a sweat, Rye Rye delivers a self-assured performance so full of heat, it should make a lot of these other rappers (both new to the scene and firmly established) re-think whether they even want to be involved in the rap game anymore.

Let’s just hope she won’t have to face any distracting reality show gigs or have any urges to be a Britney/ Rihanna-wannabe anytime in the near-future…

DL: “Bang” (alt)