'Go! Pop! Bang!' Signals Rye Rye's Imminent Sonic Explosion
With her debut album Go! Pop! Bang!, Rye Rye just wants to have fun. The Baltimore native, who established relevance as M.I.A.’s choreographically gifted hype woman, has spent the past four years attempting to lift her career from the party rap trenches. Her staggered attempts to crack the mainstream—“Bang” and “Sunshine,” both featuring M.I.A.—were virtuous, but fizzled upon impact. The baby-voiced spitfire had been eclipsed by her mentor, whose star had already risen with “Paper Planes” years prior.
On Go! Pop! Bang!, the 21-year-old firecracker delivers, intent on proving she’s the club’s true lifeline. Long overdue, Rye Rye’s introductory opus is insatiably sweaty and aggressive, shape shifting between songs without letting the beat drop. Previously released anthems dot the tracklist: “Bang,” “Shake, Twist, Drop,” “Sunshine,” “Boom Boom” and “Never Will Be Mine” featuring Robyn all have a home on the offering. But it’s in sequence where they thrive, cozying up to bizarre attempts at party fodder (“Better Than You” outright samples Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton’s “Anything You Can Do” from Annie Get Your Gun) and mainstream back-pats (“Crazy Bitch” featuring Akon, “DNA” featuring Porcelain Black).
