New wave jerk rap can be characterized as having heavy bass, claps, sound effects, and the iconic vox vocal sample that acts as percussion. It’s “new wave” because it has nothing to do with the old “jerk rap”. Songs are usually under two minutes with most songs following the chorus, verse, chorus or intro, one long verse format with repetition, changing tempos, and simple melodies…

patchmade by xaviersobased is a great example of what “jerk” rap sounds like because really it is THE jerk song. It was produced by kashpaint, who is the creator of the sound. He created the first piano melodies that xaviersobased used and blew up from. In patchmade and other songs produced by kashpaint, he uses a specific vox sample from That Girl by Pharell. Other vocal chops are commonly used as well. The first use of the Pharell chop was over four years ago with the song ouu ouu (kashpaint) by Bloody!. He is a part of 1c34 which is Xav’s rap collective and label. 

The difference between jerk and the mainstream trap space is that jerk is pushing what we consider rap. One account said that a lot of the music in the jerk scene is closer to dance music than trap. And it’s true. A song like Pure Cocaine by Lil Baby is similar to patchmade. Simple piano melody, use of a clap… lyrically, they are similar in a lot of ways. I challenge you to listen to both songs and try to see the similarities because they sound quite different. You can’t really dance to a song like Pure Cocaine. Let’s say there’s two types of lyrics in rap; drugs, money, girls, guns, and then the personality. What is the difference in Lil Baby or Future’s personality in their music? (disrespectful to Future because he really is a trailblazer, but now…) Future and Lil Baby aren’t different enough to both exist in today’s music climate. The mainstream has rules; certain lines you repeat in different ways because it’s “hard”. The first line of Pure Cocaine is a line about his wrist and the weather. Master P has a song called Ice on my Wrist that came out almost 30 years ago. My most listened to song of 2022 (Lineman by 10kdunkin) has, “My wrist is a glacier, it’s changing the climate.” We can sit here and keep making weather related jewelry lines, or we can stop. Actually, I think it’s fine but there needs to be some creativity. The reason I say that is because MadeinTYO has a line, “Rocky mountain wrist, feel like Colorado” and I think that’s pretty creative. On the other hand, the first line of patchmade is “Walk up in the mall, and I ball, b**** I’m patchmade.” Being “patch-made” is a term that comes from the NBA 2K videogames. Basically, certain players would come out better than others after an in-game update (patch), and the players that didn’t get boosted would say the other players were only good because of the patch, and viola. Nobody in the mainstream is talking about video game basketball. 

The clothing is different as well. Trap artists such as Lil Baby or Young Thug might focus on Louis Vuitton, Gucci; Future has the famous line on Thought it was a Drought, “I just f***** your b**** in some Gucci flip flops”. Lil Uzi has a chorus that’s, “AP, Muller, my rollie,” and has a different song called New Patek in reference to luxury watches. The jerk scene is much younger, Gen Z, and cares more about the swag era and being comfortable. Supreme, Bape, graphic tees, baggy sweatpants, jean shorts; on the cover of his album install, which patchmade is on, Xav is wearing a supreme shirt, jorts, and a ushanka, which has become a trendy accessory. But it’s also not a very serious accessory especially in the middle of July. (install release date) Also, Xav has a line in another song where he says, “Asics on my feet, boy you still rockin’ Yeezys.” I have Asics because of that line.

Xav has a line in the song, “I can’t f*** with n***** if they right-wing,” and another song goes, “I can’t f*** with the states, this s*** be classist.” In a time like now, this is all more relevant. I’m not voting for a Republican the next time I vote because of that line. There’s another song that is in the same vein as patchmade, called Ova Here by Sleez. She says, “All about justice, yelling free Congo.” I think this musical space that jerk is a part of, as well as digicore, and plugg and whatever… It’s all a lot more political than anything mainstream. Obviously, it’s not so easy for Lil Baby to make a song where he says I don’t f*** with right wingers. But I think it’s also just a young people thing. We WANT to speak out against the shit that makes us mad. There’s something really special about this generation; we’re the first generation to have the internet our whole lives. And we understand the rules and limitations of the internet more than any generation before us.

The point is that Xaviersobased is the goat, and I had to do this assingment for class