Catch Of The Day
Professor Payne's "night fishing," and a new wave of 919 abstract rap.
Over the past decade-plus — and probably stretching back to the mid-2000s days of the Justus League and "The LAWN" message board — no single subgenre of hip-hop has really dominated the sound or identity of the Triangle region as a whole. More of a patchwork of semi-intersecting styles and scenes, the area has always had a bit of everything, from boom-bap-rooted "true school" acts, to no-nonsense street rappers, to others who seemed to fall in some uncategorizable place in between. More recently, with drill (and its UK variant) becoming an omnipresent force in global music, and newer strains like trap metal gaining a foothold as well, tides in the 919 have shifted accordingly: Big YBA and Setitoff83, about as far removed from the Little Brother/9th Wonder coaching tree as humanly possible, are now among the Triangle's biggest cultural exports.
Amidst all this hip-hop flotsam, at least one subsection of the greater discipline didn't seem to have many local luminaries to call its own. Abstract rap, once the martian domain of a few singular voices like DOOM and Del The Funky Homosapien, but now home to a burgeoning cast of characters that includes billy woods, MIKE, Mavi, Pink Siifu, and more, has remained on the Triangle's periphery — still waiting for the moment when the right combination of artists, or undeniable streak of projects, turned it from a curiosity to a core constituency within area hip-hop.
On night fishing, the fourth (and apparently final) release this year from Raleigh producer Professor Payne, those cultural currents seem more primed for change than ever. Following in the wake of fellow RDU artists like Señor Bennett, michaelxwhite and BK-dweller/Raleigh native Kemp Dupri, Payne's ebullient sequel to September's fishing is a treat not only for its songs alone but for what it might represent: a vessel through which a new crop of offbeat rap talent, primarily Sacredd919 and rohtwiq., can be understood and appreciated, and fully come into its own.
True to its inspirations and spiritual source material, night fishing is the kind of music that by its very existence seems to defy the laws of nature — so slinking, leisurely and unhurried that it's hard to imagine its creators getting up off the couch to make it in the first place. But like all great works of the subgenre, beneath that hazy surface is a satisfyingly full spectrum of artistic range, alternating between the sentimental and the sensational, the deeply serious and the entirely outrageous.
There's wandering, free associative storytelling in spades ("n****s stealin swag like Type Beats/ I sleep peacefully, knowin I got a tough grip on the poems/ Steadily we creepin up on the totem/ heavy swings, tip of the sword/ we don't feel pressure no more," on "Buck") and moments of earnest reflection ("see my vinyl spinnin, kinda crazy/ n****s spendin hard-earned just to play me," on "catfish moon"); a penchant for comedic, non-sequitur irreverence (see: a brief detour for the clip "take a fish home, flex on him") alongside a faithful adherence to an album-spanning motif ("livin' on the edge, I had to fish with a spear;" "sea legs, stretchin out just a lil, got 'em stuck in the wake of the wave, I was landlocked"). And as for the commitment to kicking back, it hardly translates to some zombie-like state: "buck" glides like a speedboat jetting through placid waters, and "new swimbait" thumps with the intoxicating bounce of a 2010s Elevator Jay track.
Filled equal parts with big ideas and off the cuff musings, night fishing feels both grand and effortless at the same time, and refreshingly exuberant for a style that can sometimes sleepily blur together. It's a clear sign that something's in the water in the 919, and a reminder that while reeling in a big one is nice, just being out there is what it's all about.
Related:
- pictures from the crib - rohtwiq.
- roht x abd - rohtwiq. & average bleach drinker
- CANARY - Kemp Dupri x Ill-Sugi
- Peso Blanco - michaelxwhite & Peso Gordon
- The Mad Scientist. - Cardigan
Ryan Cocca is the founder/editor of Super Empty, a former furniture entrepreneur, and a salty sea dog. He (I) can be reached at ryan@superempty.com.