Within the 2010s, Los Angeles churned out a form 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—suppose early Anderson .Paak, the Web, or Thundercat. “MTV’s Pimp My Journey,” by L.A.-by-way-of-Sacramento newcomer zayALLCAPS, sounds a bit 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 music: an enormous hook that worms its means into your mind on affect. Zay’s luxurious vocal harmonies—someplace between Pi’erre Bourne and Omarion—layer over the titular line, propelled by drunken beat stutters from co-producer Keem the Cipher. Then, in a Frank Ocean-esque mutter stream, Zay sells a fairly wild automotive metaphor: “I heard love is what you want so I put it in your trunk/You recognize I seen your previous experience, 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 Zay and Keem’s beautiful beat detunes, decelerates, then balloons again into form close to the tip, you possibly can shut your eyes and film the colours of summer time forming.
