Riz Ventura vs Irrelevant Papi: RVIP W/ "WHITE GIRLS OFF A MOLLY." By CJ
Discovering new music through a front-to-back album listening session happens about as often as when you fire up an old joint, while in the whip, with your goons, these days at least. Case in point, the pairing of Riz Ventura & Irrelevant Papi.
The producer/rapper duo of both may be new to most of us, but off the strength of "RVIP" alone, is that any project they're working on gets a listen. As you already know, as with most projects in the digital era, the product tends to be best-digested one song at a time.
King Bansah (do your googles millenials on who this is) ridiculousness is what makes him so endearing and unique, and none of that is absent that on either project. Riz has spent a lot less time in the mainstream matrix (for whatever said reason) but Irrelevant Papi brings out the gary, nuances.
With all that "underground" shit and mainstream lanes ever merging in the South Africa's modern rap superhighway, Irrelevant's exploratory, looping backdrops provide a depth to Riz's storytelling he might not be afforded through a more commercial blueprint, which is cool, because the game is over saturated with that bullshit in any case.
The duo's "RVIP" EP was considered an Irrevelant Papi one-off (man repeatedly stated this in his tweets) but another EP titled "White Girls Off A Molly" followed in successive year. These EPs contain 8 of the strongest 16 cuts from RVIP and while I think both "RVIP" and "White Girls Off A Molly" plays best in short spurts, there is enough here to satisfy a wide range of hip-hop enthusiasts & just about enough to satisfy their checkbox.
Riz compelling narratives contain nihilistic excess (you know, the vices, dude's the Bukowski of rap) and are a reflection of the powerful booth chemistry the two artists conjure up. On “Whitney” Riz threatens to finger your girlfriends & how that alone, could convince her to leave you for him and more fuckery; Irrelevant’s compositions, with a squealing Jazz infused lift is the perfect accompaniment:
Irrelevant Papi stays with a steady diet of soul sample flips, most notably on standouts “Lorcia Cooper" off the EP, "RVIP" using the Sven Lebiak's "No Flowers On Venus" sample as its backbone (yeah, the same sample Knxwledge used for "noflowrs" off "Hud Dreems") and the venomous “Zoe Brown” with a loop from Five Fairsteps "Danger! She's a Stranger!":
What went behind the creative process of the titles of each song off RVIP, being named after women? On "Kim Engelbrecht" Riz paints vivid images of strife and sour luck with women, all the while finessing w/ the hook like: “doing doughnuts in the parking lot, we in the backseat, tweeting each other like it's rap beef.” It’s this type of pith that elevates dude above the prattle of his trap-rap counterparts.
Tracks like “Abigail Visagie” and “Mary Jane” are far from throwaways.
Both albums could have been pared back by a track or three but any release that contains over 50 percent killer material deserves to be lauded, especially in an age where the mp3 reigns supreme.
