![]() ![]() (The repeated "panda/panda/panda" line is a reference to the BMW X6.) At one point in the track, he says, "I've got broads in Atlanta," but he's clearly not from Atlanta. Then there are the lyrics: by now you probably know it's not about a real panda. When Desiigner performs the song, which he's done countless times this summer, it looks like he's trying to exorcise a demon. Lacking the ballad-like cadence of Fetty Wap's 2015 hip-hop chart hit " Trap Queen," or the dancehall vibes of other 2016 hits like Drake's " One Dance" or Rihanna's " Work," "Panda" is all jagged edges and throaty ad-libs. As a piece of music, it's one of the stranger, more splintered songs to become such an enormous hit in recent years. After months of listening to it, "Panda" still makes you want to body-slam people. As Slate's Chris Molanphy pointed out, the song's chart dominance mostly relied on "non-Vevo YouTube views." That's how what essentially sounds like a mixtape track can bubble to the surface, upending the monotony of the charts.Īlso, it's just catchy as hell. You couldn't call him a one-hit wonder anymore.īut what is it about the "Panda" artist that makes him so representative of this particular moment? As the upper echelon of important contemporary artists - Rihanna, Drake, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Frank Ocean - becomes increasingly reliant on elaborate album rollouts and semi-public partnerships with corporate streaming platforms, the singles chart remains the place where emerging young artists like Desiigner, Lil Uzi Vert, or Lil Yachty can break out. Released in July, it charted at 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August, giving Desiigner his second top-40 hit this year. When we eventually got the Mike Dean-produced studio version of "Timmy Turner," it was equally as evocative and mysterious, a gurgling and chilling synth concoction with a beating heart at the center. That same month his XXL Freshman freestyle, typically a forgettable exercise in showmanship, became a minor viral sensation, leading to elegant covers, countless remixes, and an almost feverish anticipation of an expanded version. Sure, he released a poorly received mixtape in June, the repetitive and drill-derivative New English, but it didn't kill his momentum so much as briefly pause it. It's probably the song of summer 2016.īy any measurement, Desiigner is having a great summer. Months later, it's still the song you're most likely to hear blasting from a car driving by on a hot day. ![]() Unlike any of the tracks on West's album - or any song released by Future, the artist Desiigner is most often (unfairly) accused of sounding like - "Panda" became the No. Music label, and quickly, "Panda" was climbing up the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In February, West signed the "Panda" MC to his G.O.O.D. If you casually follow rap music, you probably first heard the grimy beat of "Panda" at West's much-hyped MSG album-release party and fashion show and thought, "What the hell is this?" Then you replayed that part. ![]() 2" off his magnum opus The Life of Pablo. As it bubbled up through the internet, the pounding all-chorus track caught the ear of Kanye West, who sampled over a minute of the song on "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. In December last year, Desiigner uploaded "Panda," a song with a beat by 22-year-old Manchester, UK producer Adnan "Menace" Khan that he bought for $200, to his YouTube and SoundCloud pages. Granted, he has very little to be chill about. "I'm trying to be chill a little bit," he said, practically vibrating with energy. Standing next to pre-show host Lizzo on a stage outside of Madison Square Garden, across the river from his Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, the 19-year-old Brooklyn rapper looked resplendent, a gravelly voiced sunbeam pulsating through your TV screen. ![]() On Sunday night, Desiigner arrived at the MTV Video Music Awards clad in a salmon-colored suit with no shirt beneath his jacket. We're not ready to say goodbye just yet: all this week we're giving shout-outs to our favorite pop-culture moments of summer 2016, so that we can keep the good times rolling into the fall. The summer - a time for playing songs loudly on your car radio, staycation binge-watching shows you've neglected, and chilling out with movie theater air conditioning - is nearly over. ![]()
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