A Boogie wit da Hoodie‘s “Mood Swings” sounds like a reference track. The entire chorus is built around the Highbridge rapper avoiding the last syllable of a word, as if he’s forgotten mid-thought that he’s a multi-platinum rapper performing in a recording booth. Over a frantic Wheezy beat, words like “problem” and “bestie” are elongated into “problemmmmmhmmmss” and “bestiummmmmmmsss” and smoothed over with a layer of vocal processing. The effect is something akin to strapping Kid Cudi to a massage chair and recording what happens.
Nearly everything about “Mood Swings” feels unfinished, but it miraculously works despite its thrown-together nature. Never mind that the chorus’ hackneyed boast, “I’m a GOAT, I’m a God / I’m a beast, I’m a God” feels lifted from two different Kanye West songs (2010’s “Monster” and 2011’s “No Church In The Wild). Or that A Boogie decided to rap “I be feelin’ like Batman, and my niggas always robbin’” like Fetty Wap, Meek Mill, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, and countless others before him. When lyrics fail him, it’s the hums that save the whole proceeding.