Melodic rappers are taking charge of a new movement in American hip-hop right now, and whether we’re looking at the underground or the mainstream, their influence is just about impossible to ignore. Trying to find a place in the hierarchy of independent players this fall is none other than potent upstart Rixh Forever, whose new single “Crazy” alongside Vado and Benny the Butcher has critics raising an eyebrow at both his showmanship and his reserved harmonies, both of which have the power to draw quite a crowd in the present market hip-hop has presented audiences around the globe with. 2022 has been anything but normal on all fronts, but in this hot new release, Rixh Forever attempts to resurrect the stability of a good yet unfamiliar beat with a vocal that is instantly granting him some credibility with critics like myself.
I wouldn’t say that “Crazy” is a conventional rap song by any measurement – in all honesty, it’s more of an alternative hip-hop single with R&B influences than it is anything else – but to describe it as lacking any of the homespun influences a lot of indie rap tracks wear on their sleeve simply wouldn’t be an accurate depiction. There are traces of a classic approach to harmonization in terms of how Rixh Forever is constructing the climax here, and even if he isn’t exploiting a sample any more than he does the drum pattern for his primary foundation, I don’t think he needs to for there to be a natural, unforced essence that existed for the latter in his era.
You can tell that Rixh Forever is being pretty conservative with his voice in this track, and I think if he was given the right opportunity to do so, he could probably shred through this chorus with a lot more panache than he did in the studio. It’s never a good idea to give listeners everything you’ve got in a collaborative piece – especially if you have a mountain-moving pair of players in Vado and Benny the Butcher that few others in your peer group can boast – and as long as he’s able to build upon what he delivers here rather than maintain the creative points of “Crazy” as his consistent peak, he’s going to find his way into the mainstream at some point soon in his career.
Rixh Forever just dropped one stunner of a new single this December to relative acclaim from the indie media, and though he still has a long way to go before he can rest comfortably as a professional musician through and through, there’s a spark in this song that makes me very excited to hear his future recordings as they make their way onto record store shelves.
The ’20s are off to a very strange and uncompromisingly merciless start for the entertainment industry, and like the fabled decades that came before, indie artists like this one are changing the game in no uncertain terms through much more than lyrics and music alone. If you haven’t already, I’d recommend giving Rixh Forever’s “Crazy” a listen before the year is out.
Mindy McCall