Looney Babie isn't the first Milwaukee rapper that most spectators would expect to attempt a crossover. The unrelentingly gruff rapper has always known his lane -- fierce, diamond-hard street rap that makes your blood pressure spike just listening to it -- and that discipline has made him one of the scene's most respected veterans. But on his new single with YFN Lucci, an Atlanta fixture who's long shown an interest in Milwaukee, Looney does something that had previously seemed unimaginable: He goes pop.
This is how rappers embarrass themselves: They overreach, abandoning the regional sounds they owe their popularity to for a long-shot radio bid. They're almost never any good. And yet it speaks to Looney Babie's surly charisma that "Look At Me Now," a sublime victory toast of a single, really works. For the last few weeks, DJ O has been prominently slotting the track into his drive-time mixes, and Looney's voice sounds fantastic on the radio sandwiched between the latest Drake and Megan Thee Stallion hits. He's got the voice of a true star, a barrel-aged rasp that makes Yo Gotti's feel one dimensional by comparison.
Even the song's Blackout Entertainment-directed video is a departure, its colorful high school set pieces a far cry from the kitchen-and-a-camera aesthetic of Looney's previous videos. Like the song itself, the video is bright and escapist, a welcome little pick-me-up perfectly timed for summer.
You can stream the video below. The song contains explicit language.