He’s the Next Big Thing Out of the U.K. Underground

The U.K. underground goated? Get in. Let’s talk about it. Every now and again, a scene seems to be bubbling up out of nowhere, and all of a sudden, everyone is talking about it. That is what’s happening with the U.K. underground right now. Fakemink is the rapper that you need to know from that world. You might have seen him popping out at Wireless Festival with Drake. “This my dog right here. Next up, man.” The song of his that you might know best is “LV Sandals.” Today we’re going to talk about one of the more recent ones. It’s called “Hotel.” It’s bright. It’s a little bit choppy. It has this kind of persistent, metallic tingle. What is the Fakemink sound? I think the right question is what are the Fakemink sounds. You’ve got some hyperpop. SoundCloud rap, maybe the earliest wave. The jerk rap revival. You hear echoes of Drake, Lil Uzi Vert, Frank Ocean. This is clearly someone who was raised at the pace of the internet. Fakemink has been on a pretty intense run over the last six to 12 months, getting ideas out at a rapid pace. Fakemink does have hits, but with that kind of release strategy, by the time you see this, it may be another song altogether. That guy has a New York press plate on a Porsche 911. Sick.