Steve 'Flash' JuonIf you already know who Toosii is you are better off than me. I had never heard a single one of his songs before reviewing “Jaded” and couldn’t even tell you a song by somebody else he was featured on. In other words his music is so far removed from my demographic that no algorithm even tried to serve him to me, despite the fact I go out of my way to search for and listen to young creators just like him. I’ve been firewalled behind being old — either that or I’m just not on TikTok enough, which is where he first achieved viral fame with “Favorite Song.”
Now unlike a lot of viral TikTok songs I actually get this one. “Favorite Song” sounds positive and endearing. Toosii is telling women they look beautiful without makeup, saying they’re “tired of the nights where you can’t get no sleep” and offering to sing his way into their hearts. It’s set to a piano backdrop and appropriately enough he sits in front of one for the video. I could say this is just another example of “rappers” who don’t actually rap any more, but that’s showing my age more than the algorithm ever has. It’s a good song and he deserved to garner recognition for it.
That makes songs like “Fuk You Mean” an interesting contradiction. Despite the fact he’s singing in almost the exact same manner as his viral hit, to the point he sounds just as easygoing and charming as his viral hit, the actual content of the song is ANYTHING BUT. This is a dude who is suddenly hella mad at being played by a woman who took advantage of his kindness and generosity. It’s crass, rude, and the least angry sounding angry song ever. You have to play close attention to the words to see just how PISSED OFF Toosii actually is.
“Gave you everything I had
I bet the mall ain’t enough, bags ain’t enough
Paris ain’t enough, huh?
I took you shopping, bought you all kind of shit
that make your best friend wanna fuck
I took you overseas, bought you plenty things”
This has unintentionally highlighted one of the biggest issues with modern pitch modulated rap singing. Phrases like “what the fuck” and “the fuck you mean” don’t have any emotional punch any more. You used to be able to tell when a rapper was happy, sad, or pissed off mad. Now it all sounds the same. Other than the production there’s no difference between this song and “Party Girl Anthem.” It’s literally the exact same vibe. It might even be the same tempo. He’s locked into a vibe in terms of his flow and delivery and while it certainly made him a success it’s not making Toosii’s songs sound diverse.
Intentionally or not this also makes the Raleigh based rapper sound like he’s from Toronto. I think you know what I mean without me having to be explicit about it. (They not like us, they not like us.) The problem is the exact same when Aubrey sings — every song starts to sound the same after a while. It makes me miss the “Best You Ever Had” rapper even though I know we’re not getting him back. The other problem with Toosii is that “Favorite Song” seems to be the exception to the rule. He’s not actually that sweet or charming most of the time. On “Clock Work” he’s outright misogynistic.
“The inside cream, the outside red
Don’t open your mouth, just open your legs”
Since Toosii is the hot new flavor of 2024 he’s got a laundry list of producers supporting him on “Jaded” — Imregii, Gabe Lucas, Dson Beats, LaSource, Murda Beatz, Harry East, Dson Beats, Benjay, Hozay and Samuel Dua just to name a few. This creates another leveling effect without trying. If he had just one or two producers you could pick out a distinctive sound that suits him best, but when “New Corvette” sounds like it could be from any of the above names (it’s actually KINGFISHER, David Tamas, Dua & Hozay) none of them make a difference. All of his songs are passable. None stand out.
The problem with “Jaded” isn’t that it’s bad, it’s that Toosii doesn’t do anything to be different. Not only do all of his songs wind up sounding the same, regardless of different lyrics or producers, he sounds just like every other “viral” rapper that got big overnight in the last five years. The democratization of the tools to create music should have resulted in more diverse music when instead we got the polar opposite — everybody rushing to sound like whatever worked for the last man just because they can. I might have had to go out of my way to listen to Toosii, but you’ll have to go out of your way to listen to anybody who doesn’t sound like him. There are a thousand Toosiis right now and only 1 in a 1,000 (or less) will be the ones to break through the way he did.