Upon first glance of Mario Judah, he looks a bit like a mixture of our favorite comedian Druski, and Dracula.
His flows pack a punch, his lingo sounds eerily familiar, but his style feels like more something we’d see in a gothic setting, not mixed into hip-hop.
This combination results in as unique a talent as the music industry has seen in quite some time. So who is Mario Judah? Is he a meme representative of the strangeness of 2020?
Is he indicative of the toxic desperation for something new that the culture often feeds upon, then spits out like last night’s dinner?
Let’s dive a bit deeper into the goth-metal rapper who recently called out Playboi Carti.
Mario Judah calls out Playboi Carti
Fans have been feening for Playboi Carti’s newest project, Whole Lotta Red. However, his fans have been left flummoxed by his failure to release the long-awaited project.
Enter Mario Judah, the man who looks like what SyFy would draw up if they were creating DJ Akademiks.
Judah called out Carti asking where the project is, and even threatened to release his own mumble-rap version of the project if Carti refused to drop it before December 6.
The Atlanta rapper has been consistent in calling out Carti to release the project, and by December 6, he decided to treat his own fans to his own version of the sound with “Bih Yah.”
Man… we can respect the audacious pursuit while still acknowledging that this bean bag chair shouldn’t try to bite Carti’s sound. Try as anyone might, you just can’t replicate Carti.
And if Judah is doing most of this for clout… well all power to you fam. But that’s not a good look either. His goal should be to become relevant, and maintain relevancy, and these short-winded power grabs are not how you get there.
Where did Mario Judah come from?
Mario Judah’s biggest rise to fame was the song “Die Very Rough,” which has amassed over 12 million streams on all major DSP’s.
The 21-year-old Atlanta producer and recording artist has been making beats for around three and a half years now, striving to make a trap and rock sound in his own unique way.
Judah’s first song, “Crush, “was released four months ago on SoundCloud, followed by his aforementioned hit “Die Very Rough. “
Roughly a month later, One Room Media’s J. Law discovered Mario Judah on a promotion page and asked him to come up to Maryland to record a music video.
What became “Die Very Rough’s” music video amassed over two million views on YouTube in one day.
Judah has understandably become a meme on TikTok and Twitter and gotten the attention of other rappers who incorporate rock into their music.
And the world’s funniest jokester right now, Druski, was always bound to get his steak-cut fry hands on Judah, as two titans of the culture collided in an interview for the ages.
Mario Judah speaks with Druski
One of the most popular parts from Druski’s interview with Mario Judah was when he asked the rapper if his use of the n-word is racist, as he screams the word in more of a punk-rock whiteboy manner, than he does a prototypical Black rapper.
“That’s gotta be racist. There’s no way that is of our culture.”
Druski
Druski was unable to get any answer from Mario Judah, and the interview ended.
Being seen in clips with Trippie Redd and other artists has bumped up Mario Judah’s name, but it is clear he is used more of as a meme than anything else.
But if that is the strategy for Judah right now, then there was no one better than Druski, the funniest man out right now, to lead the conversation.
Mario Judah speaks with Genius
“When I was making that track, I wanted to say it as clear as possible, so that the viewer/listener can hear what I’m saying, and understand the freaking emotion in my voice and the pain.”
Mario Judah on his track “Die Very Young”
Mixing gothic sound elements with rap has been a flavor adopted by musical artists for decades, but it does feel like right now there is a boom in the demand for it. Mario Judah’s sound just takes it to the next level.
With unabashed screaming and body movements, a dark aesthetic and makeup, and leaning so far into the topic of death that his chin may as well be scraping against the floor, Mario Judah is putting all his cards on the table.
“Growing up, I knew I was going to do something that was attention-worthy.”
Mario Judah
There is no better time than now to mix various elements into one sound. And even as he made a power grab at Playboi Carti’s, that feels like a one-off. Make no mistake: Mario Judah and everything about him is entirely unique.
So will he continue to prosper? Will meme-culture and TikTok allow Mario Judah to move into his next phase?
Or will he flame out like so many artists we have seen before…