the new pretty committee #11

how's houston doing? 8/26/24

quote of the week

“so, i lied, there is no work party”

-A

musings

i have an infinite amount of love for the houston rap scene and i really do try to keep tabs on it from afar. due to my lack of instagram presence, i can mainly only comment on the music so here are my observations on the movements in houston music. (note that i say movements - no notes on huge artists like don toliver and megan thee stallion, established rappers still producing quality work like maxo kream and le$, or old heads making victory laps like lil keke and slim thug).

that mexican ot is here. who else is with him?

with “johnny dang” last year, that mexican ot catapulted out of houston for the first time. while i preferred his output last year to this year, his music has undeniably gotten bigger. i have already been bullish on him and i remain so - i think he has a legitimate billboard hit in him.

the more interesting question for now is who (if anyone) will come with him. that mexican ot is still collaborating with locals like drodi, otb fastlane, and peso peso. on the other hand, there’s a crop of latino rappers that are benefitting from that mexican ot’s rise without working with him directly (cashout ace, guero 10k). finally, the promise of latino rap that started with bo bundy’s 2019 breakout “mi barrio” is being realized.

black diamond is still up next…right?

houston’s black diamond entertainment has shown an enormous amount of promise, both in its massive, raucous compilations and in its breaking of truly exciting artists like deebaby and d flowers (on top of this, there’s also a great adjacency of lil jairmy, yb puerto rico, and more). but it still seems to be waiting for its breakout moment.

i couldn’t tell you why - deebaby is one of the most unique voices in rap right now and seems to be able to churn out bangers (never gon’ end, dark road, texico) like nobody’s business. i don’t want to speculate past what i know, but management seems to be lacking recently. the phenomenal texas-wide black diamond compilation never made it to streaming last year and deebaby albums on spotify seem to disappear constantly. but deebaby deserves his moment. maybe it’s the kevin gates feature he just snagged.

houston’s class of 2021 women rappers show mixed results

monaleo remains the absolute queen of houston, still local in spirit but achieving some of her due national prominence. it only feels like a matter of time until she makes it if she hasn’t already. however, her other peers from 2021 (female rap in houston’s big breakout year) have had varying mileage.

big jade had established herself as a strong fixture in the houston rap scene over the last five years but her output has fallen off this year and she’s never returned to the strength of her album pressure and, without beatking (rip), likely never will. kentheman has likewise carved out a niche of bad bitch bangers but seems unlikely to rise above it.

meanwhile, artists like omb bloodbath and sally sossa have fallen off in completely perplexing ways. the former went from a hit song on houston radio and a slick ep to churning out photoshop album covers while the latter fell from an honest-to-god hit to negligible spotify streams. i’m really not sure what happened here and it’s a bummer.

here’s hoping for more female rappers out of houston - we’ve been seeing a lot of movement out of new york (miah kenzo, shani boni) and atlanta (vayda, glorygirl2950) that houston can catch on to.

who i’m excited about

the ubk records compilation is an absolute blast and comes with a michael watts cosign. princess richie is a clear standout in the classic houston female rapper way, while neighborhood kelz has a manic clownery to his raps and 300hunnid has genuine menace in his voice. king kheemo is an absolute joy to listen to and i think floatin (alongside prolific friend s5 yola) has been a blast this summer. tim woods is due for a new album, i think? neednoname hasn’t quite clicked yet but he’s so prolific and improving every tape.

what i’m listening to

• ubk - ubk music

• “starfall” - quiet light

• cash cobain

• all life long - kali malone

• “boom bap” - doechii

spotify

last.fm

what i’m reading

• critique of pure reason - immanuel kant

• critique of pure reason reader - routledge

• the topeka school - ben lerner

• genealogy of morals - frederick yeah i know yeah i know

goodreads

what i liked this week

• having a story that is so beautiful i struggle to tell it. maybe another day, another post.

• I FINISHED KANT

  • and i think i get it too fuck the hate this guys a nerd but hes so internally consistent hes sooooo transcendental baes

• conversations in spanish

• a’s dinosaurs and sluts themed birthday party with the appropriate mix of strange and strangers

• my mom being excited in the group chat

• e’s brunch - arepaishes with salsita verde and frijol and migas and butter like yum yum

• fronds

• garage sales and their related signage

a poem by me

in re: forever and ever

your beauty, with a whisper
of fading so the cradling
never loses your gleam. kiss 
me to show me you are
as finite as dew drops on
porch chairs and then there
could be a forever to discuss

here’s how
(we will discuss forever):
 ----your walk leadens after a long day and as i hear the stairs give in to you, i empathize, and then wait for you in the doorway
----there is a 35* angle to your falls and i fish out my protractor from unhappier days and we build shelves under a false spring’s sun
----mapping the safe parts of each others skin with the softest of pursed lips, finding the coves where fish have loved and been loved for years.
----watching the light make and remake your face a million times each morning, for a million mornings. 

then, maybe, i can accept that
it takes two hands to interlock
on lingering dusks, darling,
you can use whatever old-
fashioned twists and turns will
help you make sense of this.

i, for one, have given up
reading above the subtext,
i am in love with the
ungraspable fractions of us
that twist their legs on
the dancefloor. sometimes
you respond in piano. other
times we lay on te floor
and wish upon the flecks
of drywall. and the bad luck
to know each other’s wishes
without a single word is a bad
luck i can’t live without.