Who doesn’t love a good underground rap posse cut? Fly Anakin, the great Richmond rapper and producer, is the leader of the Mutant Academy crew, and he’s been responsible for a lot of songs like that. Earlier this year, Fly Anakin released his solo album (The) Forever Dream, and its lead single “My N***a” features regular collaborators Quelle Chris, $ilkmoney, and Big Kahuna OG. Now, Quelle Chris and $ilkmoney are back on a new Fly Anakin single with the vivid title “Socks Over The Smoke Detector.”
Speaking of vivid, this is a great line: “Your favorite rappers is creeps, sneaky links, and Nazis/ So I’m glad I’m not on your top five, I’d rather not be.” That’s something that Fly Anakin says on the hook of “Socks Over The Smoke Detector.” Paradoxically, it’s the kind of line that might cause me to reshuffle my top five. The spaced-out “Socks Over The Smoke Detector” unfolds over nearly seven minutes, and it has contributions from a lot of seriously talented people.
Fellow Richmond underground rap great $ilkmoney recently released his own extremely quotable album Who Waters The Wilting Giving Tree Once The Leaves Dry Up And The Fruits No Longer Bear?; he’s on here. So is Quelle Chris, the Brooklyn-via-Detroit underground fixture who is practically an honorary Mutant Academy member. The London-based singer Fatima puts in a great showcase of soul-jazz vocals, presented as just one more verse in a posse cut. And the hazy, atmospheric beat comes from Shungu, the Belgian producer who released the collab-heavy album Faith In The Unknown earlier this month. Fly Anakin and Fatima both appeared on his track “Talk To The Mass.”
Right now, “Socks Over The Smoke Detector” seems to be a standalone single, and it’s a good one. Listen below.
“Socks Over The Smoke Detector” is out now on Lex.
