The FADER’s “Songs You Need” are the tracks we can’t stop playing. Check back every day for new music and follow along on our Spotify playlist.
Tisakorean treats nostalgia with a horologist’s attention to detail, each element interlocking with and boosting the effect of the next to create a deceptively simple whole. He has an all-encompassing love of snap music, the subgenre of rap that sprouted up from Bankhead, Atlanta at the turn of the millennium — all springy synths, sparse beats, and addictive dance moves that required little more than a few elaborate shimmies. But it’s not just the sound of D4L and Soulja Boy that Tisa wants to capture on his new tape, Let Me Update My Status; it’s the entire time. At a recent concert, his background visuals were simply his name in the Papyrus font against a blue screen, recalling the intros of countless old school “Crank Dat” dance videos on YouTube. Undeniable fun is always a good thing, especially in the increasingly stuffy arena of rap fandom.
As fun as it is to watch Tisa dancing like he’s dressed for an NBA draft after-party from 20 years ago, it wouldn’t be much without the music behind it. The new tape’s standout track “uHhH HuH.mp3” is just as fun as Tisa himself: the beat’s lead melody sounds like the kind of heat you’d stumble across while fooling around with the dumbest patches on your synth. It’s the silliest element in a song by an artist who calls himself “mr.siLLLyfLow,” though here the jokes are configured to match the game he spits at Sunny Galactial, the song’s featured rapper and a sultry presence with a charged energy. “uHhH HuH.mp3” may prompt one or two memories, but it’s built with a passion and care that makes it not just transportation or mere channeling, but a continuation.
