Song You Need: Rob49 and G Herbo do the math

“Add It Up,” produced by Southside and Smatt Sertified, comes with a killerjack visual treatment.

November 01, 2022

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.

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G Herbo is only 27, but he’s been Chicago royalty for almost a decade now. And Rob49, 23, has recently achieved princely status in his hometown of New Orleans with the viral success (and subsequent Lil Baby remix) of “Vulture Island.” On Friday (October 28), the two younger statesmen combined forces to share “Add It Up,” a trunk-rattling anthem produced by Atlanta beat king Southside and Smatt Sertified, a rising star from Queens.

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On the new track, Rob and Herbo sound war ready, flashing shark’s teeth above Southside and Smatt’s unhinged production, which seems specifically designed to blow out the speakers of anyone brave enough to play it loud. “Hit the club and they lovin’ us / This bitch packed out / My lil’ bitch think she a city girl / She in here actin’ up,” Herbo raps on his chaotic first verse. “Iced out Rolex platinum / Back up, we a clap shit up / Shoot his face up, can’t get back up / Fire his neck up, tear his back up.” While rhyming “back up” with itself three times might not look good on paper, it melds with the ultra-percussive beat for an unsettling onslaught.

“I’m still in my trap house with my Glock out like I run this bitch / I’ma beat that block up before I ever try to beat a bitch,” Rob chimes in later with the explosive energy that’s become his calling card. “I just did 300k this month, I just was in the trenches / I can’t move the same, I got a check now.” Overall, “Add It Up” is both a flex and a warning to those considering moves against either rapper, summed up by a viciously delivered refrain near the end of the three-minute cut: “I’m one savage motherfucker.”

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Song You Need: Rob49 and G Herbo do the math