Earlier this year, the Oakland rap champ Kamaiyah released her long-awaited album Got It Made. After a checkered major-label run, Got It Made made good on a whole lot of Kamaiyah's promise, giving us a hugely satisfying set of tough, understated Bay Area outdoor-barbecue music. The album didn't get the attention that I think it deserved, but Kamaiyah is still working. Today, she's come out with a new single, and it's a banger.
"Go Crazy" is Kamaiyah right in her comfort zone, and that's a great place to be. The beat, from producer Link Up, is great old-school Oakland rap music, with a contemplative piano melody and a perfect slow-roll digital bassline. Over that, Kamaiyah is conversational and effortless, giving us plainspoken flexing in a breezy singsong cadence: "I'm proud of me; you ain't gotta be proud, bitch." The hook -- "go cuckoo, go bananas" -- is the kind of thing that might get stuck in your head all day.
There's a "Go Crazy" music video, but it's a bare-bones affair. Director Louieknows shoots Kamaiyah inside and outside a mostly-abandoned liquor store, with nobody else around. I guess that's just the kind of video you can make during quarantine. Check it out below.
"Go Crazy" is out now on the streaming platforms.
