Mad Nice
The best rap song of 2017 is Mad Nice by Danger Doom feat. Vinny Price and Black Thought, an unreleased track on The Mouse and the Mask: Official Metalface Version reissue. Although, it is possible, it was recorded as early as 2005. The first verse is Black Though dropping jewels about growing up.1
Now ever since I can remember I been living blue collar
Searching for something, trying to make a few dollars
I was never too polished, and never on the fly list
Them shorties used to tell me I needed a new stylist
My birthdays came instead of selling me a promise
My mom, was dead honest like “Yo, we ain’t got it”
There is also recognition that everyone needs a hand, “I don’t take shit for granted, I’m strong single-handed / And I ain’t quick to panic, but I can’t lift the planet”. And a reminder that no one should rest on their laurels, “I’m coming up, but I still got a ways to climb / It ain’t a reason I should fall off or change my grind”.
And then there is DOOM… with that voice.
Straight and narrow, as the flight of a sparrow
Stalking through the jungle have you paro2 as a pharaoh with a bad toe
Seat up in a beat up Camaro
How you ‘posed to shoot for the moon with one arrow?
DOOM is keeping with the theme of making the most of oppurtunities and staying true to one’s self, “Heck, check the repertoire / Right there where it say “who catch wreck and kept it raw” / Accepted in the name of Allah, a leopard’s paw”. Now, I’m not going to lie, I don’t understand the supreme mathematics behind the leapard’s paw. But Danger Mouse, DOOM, and Black Thought, along with Vinny Price3 deliver all that any rap fan can ask for, a dope beat and clever lines. It’s mad nice.