After a shaky debut project, the 18-year-old Atlanta rapper gives her punk spirit more space to breathe on her latest mixtape.
Bktherula’s 2019 breakout single “Tweakin’ Together” is like a fairy tale made to backdrop a day in the life of the most Instagrammable couples you can imagine. (Maybe the ones who film each other doing tricks at the skatepark. Maybe the ones where both are so fashionable, it physically makes you sick. Or the ones who seem so inseparable that they must have never had a disagreement.) Her music can range from fluttery and lovestruck to songs delivered with the angst of someone who would stomp on the human body that fell to the ground during a mosh pit. “Tweakin’ Together” is so good because it’s a mix of both. “I know these niggas mad as fuck,” she raps on the opening line, so softly it’s like she’s flipping off her critics with a smile on her face. Yes, it’s an unrealistically cool love song. There's no tears, indecisiveness, or paranoia. This mythical perfection is the track’s flaw, but also part of the appeal.
Though the absence of more subtle emotions didn’t affect “Tweakin’ Together,” it is a glaring issue on the 18-year-old’s debut mixtape, Love Santana. The project feels like unfinished and shallow scatterbrained sketches were rushed out to help extend the life of her breakthrough single. Admirably, though, the record has plenty of ideas; she attempts to package her punk spirit with an endless bag of Atlanta-rooted melodies, the loose improvisation of punched-in PG County, Maryland rap, and the whimsy of SoundCloud’s melodic crooners. A couple more months of allowing the concepts to bake would have helped, as it does on her newest mixtape, Nirvana.
Prior to Nirvana, the most memorable Bktherula songs were the ones where her vocals were as light and airy as hotel pillows. That’s not true anymore; on the tape, Bk is most captivating when she sounds ready to stuff trifling dudes in lockers for not reciprocating her feelings. “All these fuck niggas is fake!/Say they love you to your face!/Really they just playing games!/Bitch, I hope you say your grace!” she screams on “Mind Fuck,” prepared to headbang, and maybe even set a car on fire like Angela Bassett in Waiting to Exhale. “Welcome” is just as good, too. Bk chants as if she’s leading a seance, and the noisy Digital Nas beat will resonate with anyone who has spent too much time listening to the Pro Skater soundtrack.
When Bk slightly reels in the JNCO jeans energy, it’s still successful but less striking. On “Admit It,” the spacey instrumental is reminiscent of the far-out C4 and Dun Deal beats you could find on early Young Thug mixtapes, and Bk’s soft-served melody makes the words sound sweet leaving her mouth—despite how aggressive they are: “Yo’ nigga wanna fight, better tell him, ‘Come with it,’” she raps.
Similar to Carti and Uzi, Bk is a rapper who always chooses swag over substance. To pull that off across an entire project, the production has to be so tight and imaginative that you hardly notice or care about punchlines that are duds. Nirvana’s defects are because the executive producer Digital Nas—best known for his early work with Lil Yachty—can’t quite build worlds like more fantastical beatmakers such as Pi’erre Bourne, Richie Souf, and Oogie Mane. Sometimes Digital Nas’ celestial sounds leave Bk out to dry, specifically on “More” and “okok/depressing,” both of which feel like off-brand versions of the beats on recent Carti leaks.
When it’s all clicking, Bktherula and Digital Nas make fun records together. Notably, “ILoveUBack3,” is a dreamy love song with a gentle flow and feathery Bk vocals. Unlike the great but unrelatable “Tweakin’ Together,” Bk’s emotions are complex here. She goes through unease and a fear of commitment, as well as joy and euphoria at seemingly inconsequential moments like a late-night back rub. It’s vulnerable in a way that seemed to be hard for her just 10 months ago. But Bktherula is blooming fast, and her music is coming along with it.
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