There’s a conundrum in the state of drill music. As the sub-genre inches closer to becoming a two-decade-old project and achieves significant textural advancements to its sound from continuously replicating itself, the incentive for artists to distinguish themselves as storytellers actually becomes less crucial. That isn’t to say that rappers who do find ways to differentiate themselves—like Philly’s Skrilla or the late Chicago rapper BloodHound Lil Jeff—aren’t rewarded.
But in the DMV, where insulation has been historically celebrated in Black homegrown forms of music, the need to stand out in their Free Car Music subset of drill doesn’t feel particularly important right now. Whether you listen to AC640, Skino, Jodyboof, or a host of others with vocal chords that still sound fairly adolescent, you could very well predict how a song will go with relative ease. You’ll hear so many variations of “Hop in that car,” “Hit my vic,” “Go spin on they men” every few bars that it starts to feel as if there’s a limited word bank for them to pick from. This has created a scene so homogenous that any semblance of deviation can, if done right, get eyes on you immediately. Naturally, much of that legwork is reserved for the scene’s producers who’ve been chipping away at this sound for the past decade.
An artist currently ascending from this world is DC’s SlimeGetEm who, after a timely rebrand, began accumulating a healthy amount of traction from his home region and various corners of the internet. Last March he dropped “Mashallah I Cooked Him” a song which, in just over two minutes, features the rapper tirelessly using his squawk of a voice to detail how he wreaks havoc in ways you’ve likely heard before. But it’s what happens underneath those assertions that grabs you by the collar. Some signature Free Car bells, underwater filters, mini explosions, 2000s Gucci Mane ad-libs, and a synth that evokes visions of walking down a dark tunnel during a state of emergency all come together to establish a sound so psychotic that you’re called to let it wash over you. What SlimeGetEm says adds texture, but the most captivating element here is that it feels like he’s rhythmically screaming through the apocalypse. The man responsible for these hellish contributions is TrapMoneyBiggie, a Rotterdam-raised producer of Cape Verdean heritage who has never even been to D.C., Maryland, or Virginia. But, largely due to the success of “Mashallah I Cooked Him,” he is one of the scene’s most sought-after beatmakers. As for SlimeGetEm, the song offered an opportunity at a second wind inside a scene that’s teeming with reputable competition. A few years ago, as SlimeHundo, SlimeGetEm made waves in the DMV for being a comedic troll rapper who’d drop diss songs aimed toward people he got into it with on social media. It helped pass the time during COVID lockdowns, but wasn’t enough to secure him a spot. Now, with TrapMoneyBiggie handling beats on much of Slime’s work over the past year, he’s become one of the more visible underground DMV rappers. GetEm, his new 12-track project, will likely further his rise.
