Na-Kel Smith: NAK

"When Na-Kel Smith began rapping, it was little more than a diversion. By the time Odd Future had crossed over from the shops on Fairfax to Tumblr to the American mainstream, Smith, a native of South LA, was already a professional skateboarder, associated with the raucous collective in a decidedly non-musical way. In 2015, he had only rapped in public a few times when, a few minutes after taking a tab of acid, he discovered a longtime friend had died."

"That verse benefits from its evident lack of polish, as if he's a mere conduit for the memories that come flooding back, his pain literalized by the vocal's yelping, pleading energy. Smith has spent the decade since "DNA" tinkering in full view of his audience. At first-as on Twothousand Nakteen and 3000nakteen, both released in 2019-that animated delivery was in service of a nervy, aggressive style that an Odd Future listener in 2013 might have imagined for the future of the group."

Na-Kel Smith began rapping as a diversion while already established as a professional skateboarder in South LA and member of Odd Future. A 2015 acid-influenced recording of grief produced a raw, plaintive verse on Earl Sweatshirt's "DNA." Over the next decade Smith experimented publicly, pairing animated, aggressive deliveries (Twothousand Nakteen; 3000nakteen) with deeper rhythmic lock-ins and pitch-shifted vocals. His 2023 releases showed stylistic swings: Free Pops FR relaxed, while Stand Alone Stuntman intensified confrontational energy. NAK, his longest album, signals a clearer control and a stylistic shift away from serrated internet rap toward a more subdued, introspective milieu.

Read at Pitchfork