Song Of The Day: Rikki Blu — “Saran Wrap (Feat. Hevy Ben$)”

The Raspy-Voiced Pleasant Grove Emcee’s Latest Collection Was Compiled In Just Seven Days — But You’d Never Know That From The Way He Eats On It.

Welcome to Song of the Day, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By highlighting one new North Texas-sprung tune every week day, our hope is that you’ll find something new to love about the rich and abundant DFW music scene five days a week

Rikki Blu — “Saran Wrap (Feat. Hevy Ben$)”
RIYL: Seeing what’s good before you eat.
What Else You Should Know: Late last month, Pleasant Grove’s Finest released his latest head-turning collection of tracks — a seven-song effort called The Black Tape.

Its genesis was apparently something of an experiment on the part of the artist. After receiving a collection of beats from Rick Ross producer Black Metaphor, the criminally under-recognized and raspy-voiced Rikki Blu challenged himself to record an album’s worth of material on top of the beatsmith’s offerings. The Black Tape bears the fruits of that labor and, on the whole, it stands as a release that sure sounds like it felt longer than seven days to congeal. Credit that to the impressive marriage of Black Metaphor’s sample-heavy, tinny bases with the headliner’s dexterous lyrical stylings.

While the septet at large impresses, its final course — a disgestif called “Saran Wrap” that features Rikki Blu’s similarly bubbling-under Dallas rapper Hevy Ben$ here in a bass-y, screwed vocal performance that counters well the main artist’s scratchy timbre — just barely stands out above its companions.

Frantic and collected at once, the song is, in many ways, a fine example of The Black Tape‘s stated mission, which is to say it boasts staying power in spite of its intentionally rushed aesthetic.

After chasing his dreams in Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York and Nashville, consider Rikki Blu’s latest just more proof that nothing tops a good home-cooked meal.

Cover photo by Jeremy Biggers.