“R.I.P Peace” features a heavy, chunky bassline and early-internet visuals that nod to Blood Orange’s “Champagne Coast.” The track interpolates J Mack’s “Go Stupid” and presents a sing-songy, 2000s-style love letter to Harlem and New York City. It includes local references such as the M103 bus, C-Town supermarket, and Levels Barbershop on 125th Street. The title honors Peace, a barber at Levels, based on a mistaken belief that he had died, later clarified through a voice note saying he moved to Albany. The beat carries swooshing harps and a chorus that feels angelic and chant-like, with 1 train shoutouts and uptown pride.
"Why do I love “R.I.P Peace”? It’s blessed with a bassline so chunky you could fatshame it. The early-internet visuals are a nod to Blood Orange’s “Champagne Coast” music video. And the song, inspired by and interpolating J Mack’s “Go Stupid” (an “NYC get lite classic,” notes Alphonse Pierre) is a sing-songy, 2000s-style love letter to Harlem and the city, filled with local references to the M103 bus, C-Town supermarket, and Levels Barbershop on 125th Street."
"Liim titled the track in tribute to Peace, a barber at Levels who he’d heard “was gone.” It turns out this was a misunderstanding: Peace is quite alive, according to a voice note Liim sent us, but “moved up to Albany, or some shit like that... so the new definition of that is ‘Rise in Power Peace.’” Still, there’s something a little angelic about the beat, with its swooshing harps and the cherubic chorus that hits like a grown-up recess chant, as nostalgic and sweet as those cherry Minute Maid juice tubes they used to give us at the school cafeteria."
"I’m an uptown girl myself, so a 1 train shoutout (see A$AP Rocky, Wiki) will always get me going, though I think it’s safe to say Liim’s not shouting out the 1 for the uptowners learning about lite feet from their coworkers. In any case, I’m proud to be from the same city Liim captures on this track-a place that’s playful, but not just anyone’s playground."
"When a snippet of Liim’s new track “R.I.P Peace” showed up on my Instagram feed last week, I thought to myself, Huh, that name sounds familiar. Last April, I went with some high school friends to a tribute night for Gil Scott-Heron at S.O.B.’s, featuring Pink Siifu and Liv.e. A 21-year-old musician I hadn’t heard of was also supporting, and I’m pretty sure I missed him. You should show out for openers-because a year later, when they drop a song that you can’t stop playing, you’re gonna feel like an idiot."
Read at Pitchfork
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