BEST NEW MUSIC: ASHNIKKO - TANTRUM

NIcki Minaj walked so Ashnikko could run. When Nicki dropped her first bars on Kanye West’s “Monster” it was game-on for brat rap hip-hop culture to blossom and flourish into a juggernaut of inestimable proportions. Her flow, so unique at the time, has come to influence a generation of like-minded women to feel like they too can step up to the mic and rap about things that had never before been heard as part of the verbal zeitgeist. Blue dildos? Check.

Ashnikko, with her bright blue braids and TikTok viral videos is the logical conclusion of where we obviously expected to have come by 2020. “Tantrum”  feels like the pinnacle in a movement that we’ll never return from. And to quote Andrea True Connection’s disco single, we want “more more more (how do you like it? How do you like it?).” 

ASHNIKKO - TANTRUM

The twenty-four year-old rapper/icon is oozing with personality on every single line she drops (along with every single picture posted online tbh). She exudes an utter confidence in branding that has our head spinning. Ashnikko looks like if BIllie Eilish was having fun instead of brooding over her music. A modern Kreayshawn for the post-post-bloghaus era.

We like fun. In fact, we love it. And while Ashnikko might be throwing a bit of tantrum, we’re having a hell of a time listening to her kick and scream over the beat. This is her first release following 2019’s Hi, It’s Me EP, which feels like a hugely productive step in an exciting new direction. “Tantrum” is catchy in about as big a way as it gets. Maybe it’ll-- go viral. 

From deep within the murky depths of the Los Angeles River emerged a creature: 50% raver, 50% comedian, 10% Robotcop. Kurt Kroeber doesn’t own a dog, operates Soundbleed (the world’s only dance party comedy talk show rave), and is down to party with you. Come up some time and say “Hey dude!” But definitely make sure to casually drop the secret Illuminati password.