Mr. West recently set the interweb ablaze by releasing a video for his Kanye & Friends banger (well, banger except for ‘Ye’s verse, even that’s aight-ish) “Mercy”.

Ostensibly, this deserves coverage on The Astral Plane because “Hudson Mowhawke played some instruments” in the production process of “Mercy”.  But I like it for more than the involvement of my second favorite preteen lookin’ ass producer from Glasgow.  DJ Nobody, or another slightly less flossy resident, has played this every week at Low End Theory since it’s release and fuck, people still get TURN’T to this song.  I think this song is pushing things forward.  It clearly falls into the trap aesthetic, it’s dark and looming, hangs out in a menacing minor key, and bangs along at a nice leisurely tempo.  BUT THERE AREN’T ANY MACHINE GUN HIHATS.  Can you even do that? Is that allowed? Of course. Things like Kanye’s dancehall sample, Big Sean talking about his favorite body part, and 2chainz being a boss carry the song rather than the elements of trap production that have been driving people bananas lately. I like that. I don’t want dark slow rap beats to turn into the “pissing contest” that dubstep has today. Obviously, who can make the craziest, waviest beat will be a lot better pissing contest than dubstep’s quest for filth and middle school fans, but I would hate to see American bass music get stuck in another rut. Luckily, the GOOD crew has placed a commercially successful beacon out there for producers to look at and say, hmmmmm, maybe more with less is the way to fuck the club up.