{"id":490433,"date":"2019-09-23T14:56:31","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T20:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=889004"},"modified":"2019-09-23T14:56:31","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T20:56:31","slug":"there-doesnt-seem-to-be-a-punchline-young-m-a-cant-conquer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/there-doesnt-seem-to-be-a-punchline-young-m-a-cant-conquer\/","title":{"rendered":"There Doesn\u2019t Seem to Be a Punchline Young M.A Can\u2019t Conquer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For a clumsy, fleeting moment, the punchline was the most potent tool in a rapper\u2019s war chest. The \u201chashtag rap\u201d era birthed, built, and sustained careers, allowing rappers as varied as Big Sean, Drake, Lil Wayne, Fabolous, and Ludacris to create hits built on the same formula. Performers would introduce a joke or premise in the first half of a lyric and immediately deliver a punchline at the end of a bar, repeating that same structure for each subsequent lyric. While none of these artists necessarily created the technique, songs like Drake\u2019s \u201cForever\u201d or G.O.O.D. Music\u2019s \u201cMercy\u201d popularized, then, inevitably, killed it. Quickly, it was subsumed by the melodic, off-the-cuff rapping style that was being perfected in Atlanta and Chicago.<\/p>\n

On Young M.A\u2019s<\/a> \u201cNo Mercy,\u201d she briefly revives the form. Throughout the track, multiple piano chords and runs cascade and swell, swirling to make an epic backdrop. M.A\u2019s chorus is longer than most verses in 2019, but with it comes the boldness of beginning one\u2019s debut album with the declaration, \u201cMiddle finger hangin\u2019\u2005out the Benz, feel like Pac \/ Spittin\u2019 on your cameras, bandana with the knot \/ Competition lookin\u2019 for me, I was waitin\u2019 at the top.\u201d There\u2019s a self-assuredness at play; M.A doesn\u2019t have to raise her voice to underline her point, letting since her smooth, matter-of-fact delivery do the bulk of the work.<\/p>\n

As the track crescendos during her first and only verse, M.A. goes out with a stunning finish: \u201cI wasn\u2019t welcome, I imposed, nigga \/ I put this dick inside her soul, nigga \/ Just to get up under niggas\u2019 skin \/ Fuckin\u2019 with the same sex, they say it\u2019s a sin \/ But I\u2019m a dyke her, she a fan, Ms. Synonyms.\u201d As far as introductions go, you could do a lot worse.<\/p>\n