Flatbush Zombies: "Thug Waffle"

If the introduction of acid to hip-hop has been greeted with little more than a bored sigh, blame it on the more emotive styles of rock and jazz. In these genres LSD has been, in many situations, revelatory; if Flatbush Zombies (Meechy Darko and Zombie Juice) are considered torchbearers of the same kind of development in hip-hop—as the title to Vibe’s article on them suggests—and “Thug Waffle,” the duo’s first single, is verse-chorus-verse, 4/4-based, and weed-redolent, then this revolution sure is a subtle one.

Still, if we are to accept that the moniker “Flatbush Zombies” comes from their idea that they were reborn upon taking psychoactive mushrooms for the first time, then it is not untoward to consider some of what does make them unique a result of their psychedelic drug usage. While “Thug Waffle”‘s canvas is tried and true—a polished, lazy synth-driven beat settles in behind them while they trade verses and recite the chorus—what stands out is the array of colors they use to paint it, technicolor strokes outlining two of hip-hop’s more promising youngsters.

Through a beat (care of might-as-well-be-a-member Erick Arc Elliott) that hangs like bong smoke Meechy Darko emerges first, sounding like a cross between the unhinged zaniness of Ol’ Dirty Bastard and the bite of Busta Rhymes while spitting, “Wrote my verse in poisoning / Watch you biters die.” Not content as merely a zombie as far as supernatural personae go, Meechy is all vampire through the line “Today I purchased a coffin and I ain’t even die yet” and then makes winking references to it throughout: mentioning gold fangs and then wearing them in the music video; saying that with his blood-red eyes, “She probably think [he’s] evil”; and offering to take her to “a vacant home,” which could be “haunted” depending upon how vacant it is. The saliency of his suggestion of vampirism, though, is borne out mostly through his vocal performance, hitting most registers as he goes from barking, “Smoke some’n bitch,” to topping out with “tricky, sticky” (or at least what sounds like that), growling, “Fuck the police, though / We smoke it like it’s legal” in the chorus in a tenor that’s almost animalistic.

Zombie Juice follows Meechy looking and sounding timbre-wise like will.i.am and Co. if they had done it right, the spikes on his vest, his gold teeth, and his yellow and purple hair reminiscent more of a Star Wars bounty hunter than a rapper. The result is perhaps better than that Black Eyed Peas-heavy lead-in suggests, though theatrics put clever wordplay in the backseat, despite the loaded rap historian’s wet dream kind of line like “Hip-hop is dead / Zombies for prez.” Far from political, they’re…spiritual? That’s probably the acid talking.