I feel like a geriatric fart yelling at kids running across his property to keep off his lawn the way I want to yell at music listeners for sleeping on Brooklyn’s Wati Heru. Just like this hypothetical geezer would scream at the youthful perpetrators, “Get the fuck off my lawn, you assholes!”, I’m screaming at you hypothetical Wati naysayers, “Get the fuck with the program, and start bumping Wati, you assholes!”
Emerging rapper, Wati Heru, continues breaking his palpable silence by releasing his smooth, wavy jam, “La La La,” less than three-weeks after his triumphant musical return with his single, “Big Boy”—a gritty, wobbly, metal-bending (literally) sounding track. “La La La” plants the listener snuggly between Wati’s ears, and launches us on an autopilot psychedelic trip. Release your inhibitions (shouts to Natasha Bedingfield—you’re my girl), and allow your ears to melt into K3mal and Kashaka’s buttery production.
This auditory and conceptual juxtaposition between “Big Boy” and “La La La” perfectly embodies Heru’s artistic duality; jump roping between both ends of the musical spectrum is grueling for most, but simple calisthenics for Wati. In his typical fashion—which is anything but typical—Wati takes this macro dichotomy and condenses it on “La La La” to illuminate his musical command and disdain for anything ordinary.
“La La La” is an auditive shroom trip. It pleasantly begins with K3mal and Kashaka’s charming production tingling throughout your body like the early booming phases. You’re giggling juvenilely, watching the grass oscillate, uttering stereotypical tripping vernacular (“whoa man…”). Everything is surreal, beautiful, and vivid—perfect. But it only takes one negative force to transplant you from that heavenly trip into a hell-ridden traffic jam.
Like you, me, and your lesbian sister Jan, Wati loves the fairer sex. Not only does he love speaking about women, he loves rapping about them. The first part of “La La La” is an homage to the girl who’s captured his mind, body, and soul by starring in his daydreams. She’s his ride or die—his everything. However, the first portion of the track’s trippy instrumental suggests that perhaps Wati isn’t talking in the present; it suggests this feminine fantasy is just that—a fantasy. At around the 2:00 mark, a voicemail from his supposed “ride or die” plays, discourteously alerting him that she’s tired of the games and fed up with the bullshit. She’s done. It becomes clear: that loving sonic embrace Wati painted is dangling off the rearview mirror.
The girl who starred in his daydreams has turned into the Freddy Kruger of his nightmares. Between the end of the voicemail and the 2:12 juncture, the beat ceases, cocoons, and gestates: the smooth, wavy production slows to a molasses pace, while still retaining fundamental elements from the initial portion. The latter part is the former’s evil twin; its antihero. Wati struggles with the breakup, taking xans to mask his pain as he reflects on their relationship: Did she really love him? Was she just using him? Was their fleeting joy simply an illusion? The resolution is unclear.
“La La La” is the premiere single for Wati’s marketing initiative, “WatiWednesdays”—new tracks every Wednesday, in preparation for his upcoming album, Midnight Madina. Enjoy “La La La” above, and be on the lookout for Midnight Madina dropping soon.