From the time she was once 16, Bktherula has claimed to exist at what she calls Stage 5. The Atlanta rapper instructed The Face she gave a reputation to this “egoless” house above the 3rd and fourth dimensions as she was once graduating highschool; to her, it’s a aircraft the place clout-chasing and self-doubt give method to ingenious freedom. Since then, she’s made her personal identify by way of chiseling facets of entice, rage, plugg, and bubbly SoundCloud sing-song rap into jagged, psychedelic hedonism. At the reasonable Bk monitor, concepts flail like neon-colored motorcycle tassels—she will be able to roar about stealing your lady over drums and sirens one minute and sing about courting issues over Mac DeMarco samples the following. Person moments are exciting and unpredictable, regardless that early full-lengths like 2020’s Love Santana from time to time veered off direction. Each and every next Bk album has labored to plant her songs on sturdier floor. On her newest mission, LVL5 P2—the second one in a sequence that began final yr—Bk imagines a 5th measurement the place outré flexes and never-ending amorous affairs are enveloped by way of waves of metal crunch and mind-expanding guitar.
P2 ups the ante by way of nudging Bk additional towards common sounds with out diluting her live-wire spark. For each romantically wounded interstellar croon consultation like “Simply Make Positive” or “The Manner,” there are prickly virtual slappers like opener “Code” or “Tatti,” the place the boasts are outlandish (“We don’t trip with the stick, we’re the stick, we livin’ scarecrow”) and no person’s lady is immune from Bk’s FaceTime name. A foray into the arena of horny drill on “Shakin It,” entire with an ethereal beat and have by way of New York maverick Money Cobain, makes highest sense: The duo are necessarily seeking to out-horny each and every different. Overdue-album lower “Lady” is much less a success, attempting on manufacturer Azure’s buzzy synths and drums and bobbing up as a drab drag. It’s a disgrace as a result of Bk’s kiss-offs to an ex who hears her tune each time they activate NBA 2K are snappy, however the supply and plodding beat stymie her and visitor JID’s verses.
Bk’s writing has grow to be moderately stickier and extra memorable for the reason that “Light-weight” and “Faygo” days in 2018, however her songs upward push and fall at the flows, ad-libs, and supply. “Inasne” is constructed on clichés (cash, medicine, girls, day ones), nevertheless it works because of the technicolor leap of AyeLavish’s beat and Bk’s bunny-hop cadence. It is going to really feel like Carti homage at the floor, however the distinction between the fluctuating melodies and deadpan ad-libs sends the tune swinging right down to Earth and again as much as the stratosphere. Little main points like those—Bk racing a half-measure forward of the beat on “Boi,” the Juvenile-indebted hook on “Tatti,” the way in which her voice blends with longtime collaborator SimmyAuto’s zig-zagging 808s on “Wishuwasdacrew”—are outdated methods that also paintings wonders. Every so often, like on “Feathers,” the gambit works slightly too smartly, rendering Bk as background noise on her personal tune.
However LVL5 P2’s hits outweigh the misses. Bk’s taste has developed so much from the minimum, spacey thumpers that established her SoundCloud presence, and he or she’s spent her tenure at Warner flirting with extra palatable textures with out sanding down her edges an excessive amount of. And whilst now not each experiment bears fruit, it by no means appears like she’s being pressured the place she doesn’t are compatible. Bk won’t have it totally discovered but so far as albums are involved, however P2’s ambition is potent sufficient to reason a touch top.
Correction: Bktherula is from Atlanta, now not North Carolina. This overview has been up to date.
