Last year, Stereogum ran an interview with the young California rapper/producer Sematary. I'd never heard of this kid before, but he's apparently a hyper-prolific underground figurehead who leads a global internet collective known as Haunted Mound and who has cranked out something like eight solo mixtapes since 2019. Earlier this year, Sematary teamed with fellow underground star Xaviersobased on a track called "Still Da Same." Today, he's got a couple of new songs.
How do you describe this stuff? Sematary doesn't rap in any way that those of us born in the 20th century might recognize. Instead, he kind of sing-chants baritone evilness in a voice that's been run through all kids of disorienting digital-distortion techniques. He does this over blown-out, lo-fi beats, which sound like something he might've recorded by holding his phone up to some speakers. Remember how SALEM clearly wanted to sound like DJ Screw? Sematary is like that, except he wants to sound like Chief Keef, or maybe Lil Peep.
In any case, that's what Sematary does on the new tracks "Heart So Pure" and "Oxycodone." The former track also has a hyper-murky video. This shit seems like of goofy to me, but maybe it's some bold new rap mutation that I'm just too old to recognize. Decide for yourself below.
"Heart So Pure" and "Oxycodone" are out now on Haunted Mound. Read our Sematary feature here.
