Riff Raff – Neon Icon (2014)

How do you describe Riff Raff? Houston-born Horst Simco has managed to be the first of his kind, sculpting a career out of a persona he seemingly conceptualized out of thin air. His tireless work ethic, onslaught of features, mixtapes, and absurd interviews made him into a celebrity almost overnight. Neon Icon is essentially his debut album, and there’s a lot to like on it. When Riff Raff adheres to his staple humorous and haphazard style of rapping the result is as entertaining as it’s ever been. Unfortunately, a lot of these characteristics are abandoned on certain tracks and the result is almost cringe-worthy. Overall, Neon Icon is a mixed album in every definition of the word.

Allow me to preface by saying that I “get” what Riff Raff is doing. Underneath his brilliantly absurd satire and totally arbitrary lyrics is an artist who, despite heavy accusations of being a troll, makes some good music. You aren’t supposed to take Riff Raff seriously—not even Riff Raff takes Riff Raff seriously, but there’s still ample pleasure to be gained from listening to some of his better work. If you actually consider his brand serious enough to merit an in depth explanation of why he “sucks,” not only is half of the hip hop genre’s fan base laughing at you, Riff Raff is laughing at you.

That being said, trying to build any sort of legitimate musical career from not only completely aimless and capricious lyrics, but a persona that’s to be taken about as seriously as a Sean William Scott film, is difficult. So, naturally, Riff Raff tries to meet this challenge by countering his “typical” tracks with jabs at other genres—with mostly amiss results.

Let’s begin by getting these “genre twisting” tracks out of the way. Ambiguity isn’t always a good thing, and on “Time” and especially the abominable “VIP Pass To My Heart,” Riff Raff proves this. The former is a take on a country sound—however, in this case it means altering a melody driven by literally just two alternating notes through synthetic guitars, banjos, and “twang.” Underneath the shockingly shallow music behind the track, Riff Raff’s lyrics reflect a theme that seems to encompass a lot of Neon Icon—his frustration with his lack of support throughout his career, and his disillusion with where his life is going as an artist. This sincere element makes the song almost listenable, but unfortunately “VIP Pass To My Heart,” presumptuously an attempt at a pop song, doesn’t have any redeeming qualities. It almost reminds me of when Wiz Khalifa threw his track “The Thrill” randomly into one of his mixtapes. Not only is it out of place, but it’s just straight up bad. Not that he usually puts a lot of effort into his tracks to begin with, but Riff Raff really didn’t do anything on this one, nor did the producers. It makes you wonder whether an attempt at diversity is even worth it when this is a possible outcome.

However, Neon Icon still has its triumphs, mostly in the form of what initially brought Riff Raff to fame (with a few twists thrown in). The album’s opener, “Introducing The Icon,” begins with a hilarious jab at what Riff probably considers his stereotypical fan, and takes off when the boom-bap-esque beat ensues. Riff Raff’s lyrics are what you’d expect, with some of his best lines being ridiculous bars like “Broke whores get rich too/ trade in Isuzus/ buy new friends too/ I rock turtlenecks in the see-through”. Even though calling his subject matter vague would be an understatement, there are still plenty of lyrics that’ll make you laugh out loud, and even a few that are reflective of a capable rhymer. The intro’s follow up, “Kokayne,” another “genre-bending” track (that actually does it well), is symbolic of Riff Raff’s true strength—his ability to formulate a catchy hook. Sometimes it almost seems like Riff Raff’s verses are just him waiting to get back to the chorus, which works out okay when he fills in the blanks with amusing absurdity.

Most of the best and replay-able work on Neon Icon is unsurprisingly when Riff Raff is doing the things that got him to this juncture. “Wetter Than Tsunami” is backed by a beat that matches its fitful lyrics, and Riff Raff’s hype game is at its strongest here. His punch-ins, catchy chorus, and entertaining bars make the song reflective of his past achievements. “Lava Glaciers” is also reminiscent of these characteristics—with a refreshingly good feature from Childish Gambino thrown in. Although he sounds like Lil B trying to rap on an A$AP Rocky track, Riff Raff asserts his southern roots on the “How To Be The Man” remix, featuring strong verses from Houston legends Paul Wall and Slim Thug.

Neon Icon’s lead single, and arguably best track is the “Deion Sandals”-esque “Tip Toe Wing In My Jawwdinz”. The fact that the production on “Tip Toe Wing” bears such a similarity to one of his past hits becomes irrelevant the moment Riff begins the first hook. It’s plain to see that this element is the driving force of his works. I’ve heard Riff Raff describe himself as an “entertainer” rather than an artist, and the strength of his hooks are indicative of this. However, “Tip Toe Wing” features some of Riff Raff’s better rapping, reinforced by his knack for a sing-song style. His flow is simplistic yet suitable—he shows off the ease with which he can change up his flow when the inevitable onslaught of random, 5-syllable words arrive. He raps: “At the titty bar/ I ain’t afraid to tip her/ Me and Sergio throwin’ pesos at some strippers,” following apt punch-ins and indelible alliteration. Riff Raff is at his peak starting off with the second verse—he ends each line with very appropriate inflections—showing a prowess for adapting his lyrics into a more melodious matter. He sounds powerful, moves seamlessly from bar to bar, and displays an ability to conform his rapping to the time signature of the beat. This is what Riff Raff should stick to.

On that note, the fact that a song like “Tip Toe Wing” doesn’t have a feature verse from a rapper like 2 Chainz or Juicy J totally perplexes me. This song has radio hit written all over it (and I don’t think I’m wrong in assuming that’s exactly what Riff is aiming for), and the addition of one of these guys (for whom the beat was MADE) would certainly push it over the edge. Alternatively, he brings in rappers like Mac Miller and Childish Gambino for album features who totally don’t fit the mold—most likely in attempts to “bust him out of his shell,” which seems to be a theme on the album. Luckily, Childish Gambino plays his part very well in his feature. The failure to make simple moves like adding the rappers for which some of these tracks were produced for, along with the several duds on the album, make Neon Icon a very mixed effort.

Riff Raff is in a paradoxical situation. He wants to be taken seriously, but the very nature of his stardom requires that he isn’t. His attempt to counter the critiques of his “stunt” only serve to make his albums less listenable—if he were to stick to the formula that made his previous hits a success for all of Neon Icon, it would be a very strong record, relatively speaking. Instead, his attempts at making his sound even more difficult to brand wind up hurting him in the long run. He should’ve realized the day that he started painting his nails, putting his hair in corn rows, and saying things like “I’m the white Gucci Mane with a spray tan” would render his attempts at a serious and compelling music career useless. Nonetheless, Neon Icon manages to deliver some of the best characteristically “Riff Raff” tracks to date.

67/100