FOREVER.CLASSIC: Eem Triplins Effortless Cool
For more than three years I have not returned to this method, but I always listened to the song "Bad Dream" in its entirety, mixing it in the car. Finally, in 2022 he changed the vocal layers for a track called "Pimp Talk" and a few days later for Tyler The Creator's breakthrough "AWKWARD FREESTYLE", a track he sampled a few years ago.
On a chilly March night, as Em plays "AWKWARD FREESTYLE" in Manhattan's Terminal 5 as the opening act for Chicago rapper Lucky, the crowd jumps and dances to the smooth flow of the song. It became an underground hit on TikTok, I got on the Rolling Loud account and got a blessing from Tyler himself. And for good reason: on the track, Em easily balances between the cool sound of sports samples and the hot explosions of LA street rap. The real sauce, though, is Im's soft, high-pitched, layered vocals, the cool, sleepy X, and the Kodak mutation that has soul in every word.
I'm still trying to figure out how to translate that certain unspoken energy into live performances where the crowd is expecting madness. During the performance, instead of singing softly, he hums his lines like a hypeman, as he does in all his recordings. It is this adaptability that has kept hip-hop at the forefront of culture over its half century of history, and has kept iconic pieces like the CA Pro in vogue. "I've seen comments from people saying, 'Oh, it sounds different live,'" he says. “Dude, I can sit there and sing. I don't use automation. But that's right, bro, I'm at a concert. Outside is 2023. Children try to be seen, not sit and cry.”
