According to P2I, no diss track can be truly be successful unless listeners “want to scream that shit out” — which is probably why their song “When I Need You” piles the chant-worthy zingers high. The Quincy duo of Jace Martin and Rilke use their raps to roast an unreliable old flame on their newest single, released today (April 15).
Recorded in their home studio with assistance from mixing engineers Maddy Ciampa and Mark Abrams, “When I Need You” folds its brutal lyrics into hooky beats in the pursuit of perfecting a decades-old art form.
“Look, diss tracks have been around forever,” Rilke tells Vanyaland, reflecting on the decades-old tradition. “Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors was an album-length diss track, and they were dissing everybody in the band. But people are still singing ‘Dreams.’ Hip-hop has seen an evolution on that end, too. The ’90s were a super-heavy punchline era between the NWA intra-beefs, ‘Pac and Biggie; ’00s had Jay [Z] and Nas trading ‘tae-bo hoe’ lines. But recently, hip-hop has moved to the catchiest diss. For as much as Drake has influenced hip-hop, that one might be the most lasting (but we still don’t want any smoke with Pusha).”
He adds: “We tried to balance both on ‘When I Need You.’ We went for a hook that would bang in the car but still gave fans punchlines that they’d want to yell while driving.”
Or, you know, just yell in general and commiserate over the agony of flakes and fakers.
“It’s raw, and it’s painful,” Martin notes. “Anybody who listens to this track has been through that feeling at some point in their lives. You just have to remember that no matter how bad things get, you’re always going to find yourself on the other side of it, someday. That’s just the way life moves.”
Lean on “When I Need You” below.