Steve 'Flash' Juon“Codeine in my blender
BRRING BRRING! Who is it?
Collect call from Bruce Jenner”
This punchline is confusing. “Peach Panther” came out in 2016, but we already knew in 2015 that Bruce was transitioning to Caitlyn. Could Riff Raff have been ignorant of that fact, or was he just practicing the age old transphobic habit of “deadnaming” people? Refusing to use someone’s preferred name and/or pronouns is a form of virtual signaling to the far right and ultra conservative. More importantly though it’s unnecessarily disrespectful. It’s possible that Riff Raff recorded the “Freestyle” that opens his album so far ahead of time that when the album came out it was simply a dated reference. If we generously assume that to be the case, it still doesn’t explain away the many other controversies that have chased the Houston rapper.
Unfortunately we must again give Horst Christian Simco the benefit of the doubt. Even though Riff Raff’s international tour was cancelled, it’s possible that the claims were made just to sabotage him out of jealousy or spite. He has served no jail time for this or any of the other sexual assault charges levied against him, although he did settle a civil lawsuit from one case in 2020. Coincidentally that’s when Riff Raff’s last major album was released. Either due to wanting to avoid the controversy or due to the pandemic closing things down, Riff Raff was pretty quiet for a while.
Frankly after listening to “Peach Panther” I’m not sure any further albums were warranted let along international tours. It’s not just that references to Bruce Jenner and “Chris Paul” date the album — the latter now infamously one of the best NBA players to never win a NBA Championship. It’s because songs like “I Don’t Like to Think” describe Riff Raff a little too well. It’s the kind of unintentional honesty that makes you cringe listening. I already thought of Riff Raff as being “the poor man’s Paul Wall” before this album. After this song I decided he wasn’t even that good.
“I ball with Fiji water
I chase money like, bank robber
I didn’t mean to, not call her
I couldn’t find my, phone charger”
Riff Raff’s flow is incredibly stilted, his wordplay incredibly basic, and he’s completely left in the dust when Problem shows up for a cameo. The same thing happens all over again on the very next track “Shout Out to the Bay” featuring King Chip a/k/a Chip Tha Ripper. If I was “Jody Highroller” I’d stop inviting people to do songs with him. He can’t win when everybody he raps with turns out to be a much better, funnier, more entertaining rapper.
I spent the opening part of this review giving Riff Raff the benefit of the doubt in the belief that a full listen to “Peach Panther” would ultimately exonerate him. It did precisely the opposite. Simco was so determined to become a rap star that he used to hustle homemade mixtapes at the Katy Mills Mall, and used a brief run on a MTV reality show to propel himself into the spotlight. As a better Houston rapper once said “hard work took me to the top.” I don’t think Riff Raff ever got to the top though. He became well known for being colorful, loud, and flamboyant. That makes you a success as a reality show star, but it doesn’t mean you’re a good rapper. Riff Raff is an example of A+ hustle with C- ability. He shouldn’t compare himself to Chris Paul, because Paul is actually good at what he does best, with or without the championship rings.