Within the 2010s, Los Angeles churned out a sort of sultry alt-R&B influenced simply as a lot by the sunny hooks of 2000s city radio because the grooves of the town’s psychedelic beat scene—assume early Anderson .Paak, the Web, or Thundercat. “MTV’s Pimp My Experience,” by L.A.-by-way-of-Sacramento newcomer zayALLCAPS, sounds slightly like one thing from this period of head-nod jams, with a beat manipulated by the scene’s defining piece of substances, the SP-404. It’s additionally a licensed anthem. For one, it instantly delivers on the promise of each nice R&B track: a giant hook that worms its means into your mind on influence. Zay’s luxurious vocal harmonies—someplace between Pi’erre Bourne and Omarion—layer over the titular line, propelled by drunken beat stutters from producer Keem the Cipher. Then, in a Frank Ocean-esque mutter movement, Zay sells a reasonably wild automobile metaphor: “I heard love is what you want so I put it in your trunk/You understand I seen your outdated journey, that’s a hunk of junk.” Budding emotions map onto the inertia of L.A. site visitors, double texts, and awkward dialog within the backseat. Nevertheless it’s actually all about that monster refrain: As Keem’s beautiful beat detunes, decelerates, then balloons again into form close to the top, you may shut your eyes and film the colours of summer time forming.
