- The New York rapper lets loose with newfound conviction over a laidback offering of deep house and early '00s R&B.
- Some rappers just happen to be queer. Then there are queer rappers. In the mid-'10s, not long after same-sex marriage was legalised, rappers like Zebra Katz, Mykki Blanco and Le1f were caught in an identity trap—writers and audiences seemed more interested in the fact that they were queer than their actual music. For the better part of his 20s, Rashard Bradshaw found himself in this same trap. In the press release for his new album as Cakes Da Killa, Black Sheep, he expresses a confident riposte to the media's pigeonholes. "I know I rap and I know I'm queer," he wrote, "but I'm also very talented compared to queer people or straight people." Black Sheep was written as a no-fucks-given record, and it's all the better for it.
The New York-based artist is done proving himself, he explained in an interview with them. "People don't remember that just five years ago, to be an openly queer rap artist was unheard of—and I started making music a decade ago. For me, there was a certain pressure to always prove that I could do this. That's why I was always on top of my lyricism and my songwriting, because I didn't want to petition to take up space and not be good," he said.
Now, he knows he's good, and his assuredness allows him to indulge in some lyrical shenanigans. He recounts proud strides into clubs from Japan to India—on the guest list, of course. He hops out of Ferraris with a gaggle of glitterati and slow whines over wine, likely the Riesling he mentions later on. He fills his cup and wears Schiaparelli and Vivienne Westwood—life's never been finer. He makes it clear that this lifestyle is one he earned all on his own: "You can't get like me without working," he snarls on "Problems 4 Problems," one of Black Sheep's highlights, exuding Moët-hued class with xylophone-led R&B.
Bradshaw has previously rapped over technicolour pop, Jersey club, house and sullen R&B. On Black Sheep, the lights dim, the BPM slows to a heartbeat rate and the rhymes are all illuminated by a luxurious glow courtey of Sam Katz, who produced Bradshaw's 2022 album Svengali. Empowered by the MC's renewed conviction, the pair explore a dreamy blend of deep house and early '00s R&B.
"Make Me Ovah" infuses an amapiano log drum into house spotted with muted minor notes. The song mixes seamlessly, and unhurriedly, into the following interlude "FourPlay," where Bradshaw drops in braggadocious phrases with a flow as breezy as the song's bossa nova instrumental. The production on "Global Entry," is stripped-down, evoking the seductive punch of early aughts The Neptunes hits like "Drop It Like Its Hot."
Though Bradshaw fills every line with a new verbal attack, he does so with an insouciant shrug. "Never had time to be beefing with baristas," he raps, letting the last syllable fall like the rewarding exhale after a long drink, ahhh. He sounds similarly mellow as he boasts, "All these boys wanna uh in the club," on the R&B beat "Crushing In Da Club." The song leisurely cruises by, its muted piano chords spaced out between claps that bounce cooly on the third beat.
Typically bold and forward-facing, Bradshaw, having already earned his way, occasionally reclines into the back seat on Black Sheep's singles. This allows for other characters to enter the Cakesverse. But on singles like "Do Dat Baby," where a collaboration between Bradshaw and Dawn Richard should have been a no-brainer, the result occasionally feels overdone. In the hook, Richard rises to the forefront of the song's laidback deep house, but her vocals sound processed in a manner that sanitises her usual sultry cool. The lead single "Mind Reader feat. Stout" suffers a similar fate—the upbeat house sounds sterile and Stout, a former Alicia Keys backup vocalist with a soulful range, is equally uninspired.
Bradshaw excels conceptually when he rides solo, like on "Downtown J," where he brings his voice to an omnipresent whisper over deep house. The song is a tame reimagining of the New York overground train that cuts through Manhattan and Brooklyn—if you're clubbing in Bushwick, it leaves you at Myrtle Avenue, home to Bossa Nova Civic Club and Mood Ring. The track sounds like a three year-long response to a moment in his 2021 EP Muvaland 2," where he demands, like every friend group's bossy leader, "meet me at Mood Ring!" This is the Cakes that New York knows and loves—confident, unbothered and sometimes, hilariously authentic.
Tracklist01. It's A Luv Thang feat. Wuhryn Dumas
02. Mind Reader feat. Stout
03. Make Me Ovah
04. FourPlay
05. Do Dat Baby feat. Dawn Richard
06. Global Entry
07. Downtown J
08. Cakewalk
09. Crushin In Da Club
10. Problem 4 Problems
11. Ain't Sh*t Sweet