Wasiu is a rapper in a league of his own. The Montreal native and Kaytranada collaborator's bars have been described as both "precocious" and "cerebral," but these monikers serve to undo one of their most special qualities; Wasiu doesn't just rap, he utterly immerses you into his world. With this talent in mind, his latest track "Daddy Issues" (produced by Dear Lola, Thomas White and WYLN) is a true tour de force, plunging you into a world of neon-lit strip clubs and a metric ton of irony. Stream it below via SoundCloud.
But to really grasp what the track is all about, take it from Wasiu himself:
"The song is about my first experience at a strip club, wasted. In America, they have dollar bills. In Canada, our dollar is called the Loonie, and it's a coin. Throughout the night, I had voices in my head questioning my morality, and though I felt wrong about it all, I gave in to my urges. Yes, I would become that guy who has conversations with strippers telling them, 'you don't have to this.' I end my night by throwing up on some strippers and bouncers throwing me out.
There are certain themes in rap that everybody talks about, and it sounds redundant, cliché, or the same. I wanted to show and prove that I could do a song about an over-saturated idea such as a strip club anthem, but giving it an unique twist, making it more artistic, or being more original with it. I tapped into how I thought Slick Rick or Nas would have wrote this story, while sprinkling my vocals with a familiar aesthetic in its texture to a Future, Weeknd, or Fetty Wap. I just combined influences that people normally do not mix together, and that's how I made it a unique song."
For more of our premieres, check out Anne Dereaux's "Rock Away" right here.