MR MUTHAFUCKIN’ EXQUIRE at SXSW Music Festival. March 17, 2012. Rating: NNNN
Mr Muthafuckin’ eXquire is a throwback to the Golden Era of rap, capturing the elements of what made Slick Rick and ODB so enduringly popular.
Overweight, bejeweled (too many chains to count) and wearing a grill the size of Texas, Mr eXquire is a cartoon character – an amalgam of gritty New York rap. His songs are odes to every kind of binge drinking and lots of sex.
At SXSW, he appeared in various costumes, on several stages, to perform his underground hit, Huzzah!
His songs are a welcome change-up from what else is going on in hip hop today. No swag chants, Rihanna hooks or expensive fashion labels name-checked here. Just hardcore street rap. (Pretty much every single one of his videos features him drinking, or outside a liquor store, or a combination of the two.)
With all that stripped out, Mr eXquire needs all the charisma he can muster to attract a modern rap audience. And he’s got an outsized stage presence. With more than a dozen hype men and hanger-ons around him, you’re always looking to find him, even when he’s not rapping.
The consequence of that, though, is that when he’s on the microphone, you expect fireworks. Often enough, his raps are too straightforward to ignite.
But while the majority of SXSW waited in line to see 50 Cent, Eminem and other established rap acts perform the same concerts they’ve been performing for the last decade, Mr Muthafuckin’ eXquire was at least doing something different.
