Steve 'Flash' JuonThe movie called Forrest Gump came out 30 years ago, which makes me certain it’s older than Vayda, a female rapper from Atlanta who released an album of the same name. Biographical details are a bit hard to come by since she’s relatively new on the scene and “FORREST GUMP” came out in the last year, but both of those things lend credence to me believing she’s much younger. The style of her music, her accompanying videos, and the topics of songs like “VOGUE” also fit this premise. “I don’t have no Twitter, I don’t have to tweet/I say what I want and they listen to me.” Good for you Vayda.
I’ve tried hard to track down specifics but as with many Gen Z and Gen Alpha children, she’s purposefully hidden parts of her bio from the prying eyes of the internet, and I don’t blame her for it. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have to try anyway. She says her father was “part of a rap group” but won’t say who. One source claims to have her government name but the last name is so common that’s no indication who her daddy is or how old she’d be. Honestly if it wasn’t for her album’s title I wouldn’t care about the respective ages of the two and it feels wrong for what she’s purposefully obscured so I’m dropping it here and moving on.
Besides — the signs of her youth are so obvious on songs like “sprite” we don’t need to keep looking for her age. She proudly rocks a septum ring in her nose and all I hear from people my age or older is how they “don’t get it.” That’s the point innit? You’re not supposed to. The young are supposed to confound their parents and grandparents with what they wear, how they walk, how they talk and the entertainment they enjoy. Songs like “tweaker” roll all that up into a tight 71 second package. “I’m blitzing and bopping the hoes in your city” says Vayda, spitting bars in such a rapid fire breathless manner that “blitz” is in fact the word to describe it.
“FORREST GUMP” has self-produced tracks and others by the likes of NEDARB, BrentRambo, CHRIS9000, fckboi (what a name) to list a few. Like so many other things about Vayda though this information is obscured — there are no liner notes to tie specific songs to specific producers, and unless she mentions somebody as “featured” on a song that’s the only clue. Vayda keeps what she wants to herself and reveals only what she decides to. On “hood zendaya” the amount of no effs she gives is abundantly clear.
“Fuck what they sayin
I know that they playin with me and boy we don’t get along
Ho claim she know me but that is the old me
Dyslexic ass ho, she read it wrong”
The short song lengths and her high octane flows make for a whirlwind listening experience that can leave you a bit dizzy. It may not help that she delivers them in an almost breathless ASMR manner. She’s not whispering into her microphone, but if she spoke at this volume in a crowded room, you wouldn’t hear a word she said. With a pair of earbuds in you can discern most of what she says but she still rips through songs at 100 mph. Far from telling her to change her flow, no not me not at all, I would tell her to lean into what she’s doing on “FORREST GUMP” and go even harder. She doesn’t sound anything like the rest of her peers in the rap game and standing out in this crowded field is a good thing.