Robb Bank$ – Counting (Youtube, 2012)
If there’s one trend that doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon, it’s young peoples’ yearning to revive music that was popular before they graduated elementary school. This is perfectly exemplified in the uprising of “trillwave”, a micro-genre of sorts that has been popularized by ASAP Rocky and Spaceghostpurrp in the last year. This obsession with reviving sounds that have laid dormant for years – decades, in some cases – has been successful in getting its disciples noticed, but has resulted in mostly mixed results musically. The cream of the crop manage to take the styles their predecessors employed, and update it for their generation to relate to. The rest – well, they’ve mostly been bland rappers spitting over 8Ball & MJG loops, chopping and screwing their voices more and more frequently in hopes of being listenable.
The well has been running dry since LiveLoveA$AP dropped last year, with many immitators following in Rocky’s footsteps. Upon first inspection, south Florida representative Robb Bank$ seems like yet another wave-rider. He raps over Clams Casino (not an original production, but Clams’ Rainforest single, “Gorilla”) and employs the same calm demeanor that Rocky does. The video for “Counting” is shot in a manner eerily reminiscent of Rocky’s “Peso” (though a young Mick Foley with a grill does open the video in a ridiculous manner), and Robb’s first verse focuses on little more than your bitch and snapping pictures of her. Then around the 1:20 mark, something happens. Robb drops a small gem about searching through his phone for nude photos of an ex, photos he’s certain have been deleted. There is some humility expressed within the following bars, and Robb becomes less of invincible player so many of his peers portray, becoming the sympathetic protagonist you want to root for.
