{"id":2449992,"date":"2019-10-17T13:38:04","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T19:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=900354"},"modified":"2019-10-17T13:38:04","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T19:38:04","slug":"are-supergroups-terrible-yes-is-ghetto-sages-haagen-dazs-pretty-good-yes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/music-news\/are-supergroups-terrible-yes-is-ghetto-sages-haagen-dazs-pretty-good-yes\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Supergroups Terrible? Yes. Is Ghetto Sage\u2019s \u201cH\u00e4agen Dazs\u201d Pretty Good? Yes."},"content":{"rendered":"
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I enjoy Saba<\/a>, tend to avoid Smino<\/a>, and understand the appeal of Noname<\/a> even if her music doesn\u2019t resonate with me. It\u2019s not a popular opinion, but then again, most of my opinions are not popular opinions. That\u2019s why the fan fervor around Ghetto Sage<\/a>, the much-teased supergroup of Saba, Smino, and Noname, never permeated my wants or desires.<\/p>\n

The three Midwest musicians are musically distinct, but stylistically run in a hemisphere that, at one point meant the world to me and with the jaded glaze of age, has stopped feeling as vital. Their lyrics are dense, the subject matter presents a specific vision of Midwestern blackness, and their vocal performances range from deadpanned to warped in a Soulquarian varnish. In short, they tend to be light on bangers and heavy on vibes. Going into Ghetto Sage\u2019s \u201cH\u00e4agen Dazs,\u201d it was difficult to know if the trio would bolster each other\u2019s worst tendencies or present another side of the singular artists that could flourish within the collaboration. At the end of three minutes, it appears the group is closer to the latter.<\/p>\n

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Produced by PRODXVZN, the song is built on a sparse, eery beat that leaves enough room for each artist to present what they\u2019ve become known for. Smino anchors the song with that weird voice he does, but his chorus is effective and catchy. It\u2019s not easy to sell a hook like:<\/p>\n

I get the bands like The Roots
Blackout all my thoughts,\u2005request\u2005the love, revenge\u2005the youth
Benz a coupe, that\u2005bitch fast, H\u00e4agen Dazs
Ice cream on the inside, H\u00e4agen Dazs, SRT<\/em><\/p>\n

But somehow Smino does, and as the song progresses, he extends and shortens the hook in service of setting up and propelling his bandmates. Saba\u2019s verse is predictably excellent and hits its peak halfway through when the Chicago rapper launches into a double-time flow, managing to force-rhyme the last word of each bar \u2013 Funkadelic, Erick, Elvis, fellas, Ben & Jerry, Tom & Jerry, bend and vary, and hail mary \u2014 and build a sense of rapid tension in a small space.<\/p>\n

Then Noname steals the show with a devastating performance. On Twitter<\/a> she explains that her verse centers on the topic of black intimacy. \u201cIn this verse I write about sadness as it relates to my partners body being synonymous with death,\u201d she wrote. \u201cOur society is constantly saying we\u2019re not enough and sometimes I\u2019ve used to show\/feel like we are. To feel totally human and totally free.\u201d It\u2019s a deep and heady concept to present in a song that\u2019s ostensibly about ice cream paint jobs, but to Noname\u2019s credit it works and bar like \u201cI\u2019m sucking dick cause black lives matter\/I scatter roses on my metaphor, \u2019cause the world shot Nipsey,\u201d is easily among the best of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cH\u00e4agen Dazs\u201d is a strong first outing for Ghetto Sage. The song didn\u2019t change my mind regarding each artist\u2019s solo work, but it never needed to.<\/p>\n