by Dash Lewis (@gardenerjams)
Fly Anakin is absolutely having a moment. The leader of Mutant Academy, Richmond, Virginia’s ascendant rap collective, has effectively carved out his own mellow lane over the past few years. His music occupies a specifically interior world, one that values smoldering zone outs above bombastic bangers. Anakin sounds most comfortable over bubbling, drifty production, rapping in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cadence designed to entice the audience into repeated listens. It’s a deceptively dense style, very much emphasizing texture as its first impression.
Anakin’s latest offering, the self-produced seven track Pixote EP, finds him even deeper in his smokey universe. The beats vary from droney, blunt cruise soundtracks to sample chop workouts, each with an idiosyncratic take on rhythm. “Universe in Gatorade” features an off-kilter melody and clicking drums that gel suddenly but threaten to fall apart at any moment like a rickety scaffold. The humming stabs and syncopated snares of “Still...Not Enough” feel like elements of The Field’s early records if he channeled Outkast rather than Seefeel. Throughout, Anakin’s production chops are formidable and fascinating, creating a lovely, heavy-lidded mood.
Complementing Anakin’s somewhat unorthodox production is his fairly straightforward approach to rapping. His stream-of-consciousness flow propels ahead hypnotically, picking up discrete thoughts and rhyme patterns and discarding them just as quickly. It’s rhythmically unshakable, finding a groove and effortlessly remaining there. He knows his ability to immediately get to a particular cruising altitude is impressive, as he boasts on “Give Or Take” that he’s “still in the pocket like it’s lunch money.”
Though Pixote doesn’t really break any sonic new ground for Fly Anakin, it’s an excellent demonstration of his strengths. With every new bit of new music he issues, whether guest spots, collaborative projects, or solo work, he proves to be one of the most interesting new voices in underground rap. Pixote is a welcome addition to a catalog as trippy as it is contemplative.