Raq Baby’s “Dirty Dan” brings ambient to Chicago rap

Listen to “Dirty Dan” off the rapper’s latest album I NEVER GAVE AF.

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Characterizing Raq Baby’s’s music as tender might be a step too far. But as with peers like Hurricane Wisdom and Rroxket, the Chicago-via-Atlanta rapper crooner is constantly softening the rough tropes and harder edges of contemporary gangster rap. So on I NEVER GAVE AF, Raq’s sillier impulses, like rapping over a Childish Gambino flip on “Stick Talk,” hit the mark thanks to his agile, assured bars. “Dirty Dan” is more straightforward, the usual threats of bodily harm and accusations of style-jacking, but Raq’s precise, polished delivery makes his verse magnetic, even if he’s threatening to jump the opps in the middle of the school day.

The Xair instrumental splits the difference between the cavernously subtle low-end of Chuckyy’s drumless drill and the twinkling earworm arpeggios of Atlanta plugg. Behind the nonchalant glitz, there’s still somber gravity: “Ain’t nobody perfect they be quick to point out a man’s flaw / crazy, your killer can be that n***a from the sandbox,” Raq sighs halfway through, sounding totally dejected. But the clouds are fleeting; a few seconds later, he’s back to peddling pharmaceutical wares and letting you know his girlfriend could beat up your girlfriend.