Cambridge, MA MC Rothstein is trying his damndest to crack the code when it comes to Trap music. The hazy, turbid sonics of the subgenre, masterfully executed by producer ryanjacob on Rothstein’s “Get Your Shit Together,” are ripe for an MC to talk about any and everything—but it seems like a vast lot of trappers choose to talk about nothing and let the melody carry them.
Not the case on Rothstein’s latest and introductory single from his upcoming BART EP. Over the irresistible, ominous synth melody, Rothstein pours out a lifetime worth of internal strife. Over e-mail, Rothstein calls the track his “anxiety in song form,” examining a toxic relationship with his girlfriend in the context of his lifelong “chase” for love. He earnestly notes, “your love feels like when my pops wasn’t there–I don’t mind.” He then explores, “what happens if it never happens” for him as an artist, before saying F it and ending the track with a sharp verse chastising fellow MCs for their drug glorification before admitting he’s perhaps in the same boat.
Rothstein notes that he had never liked his voice enough to try a record like “Get Your..’, but finally decided to give it a shot as a full-on vocalist. He credits his family and friends for introducing him to a range of music, from his Jazz drummer father taking him to see Ahmad Jamal because “ Max Roach had just died and he wasn’t taking any chances,” to his mother’s love for Jackson Browne and Sondheim.
The nexus of influence is apparent on the cathartic “Get Your Shit Together,” which sounds like the perfect 2017 808s and Heartbreak redux. Rothstein promises more on BART, a pensive EP that took two years and defeat of “debilitatingly comfortable self-pity” to refine.
You can stream “Get Your Shit Together” below.
https://soundcloud.com/rothsteinraps/get-your-shit-together-prod-ryanjacob
