I fucking love Why? Also this week I seem to love artists that use confusing punctuation in their names and song titles. Formatting all of the Kendrick songs with capitals and periods in descriptions was kind of silly and now a band name that’s a question? Madness.

This song was released originally in Summer of 2012 as the title-track on an EP, then was also featured on Mumps, etc. It’s definitely the most Hip Hop song Why? had between those two efforts, and really could be argued that it was the last real hip hop song Why? has produced at all. Neither 2013’s Golden Tickets nor this years’s Moh Lhean had too much that was directly hip hop. Golden Tickets was more of a fun pastiche type EP, jumping from style to style based on the names and social media profiles of people who bought things on their web store. It felt a bit unfocused and not every song landed. Moh Lhean was a much more mature effort, and definitely feels like a departure from their older style, while still maintaining a lot of their attitude.

I first heard about Yoni Wolf due to his collaboration with Fog’s Andrew Broder for the project Hymie’s Basement. I loved Fog at the time, and liked the album overall, but didn’t spend too much time with it until discovering Why?’s Alopecia years later. You can hear a lot of Andrew Broder’s influence on Yoni on songs like this where the lyrics have a more stream of consciousness feel.

Yoni Wolf is about as hipster a rapper can get, but in an endearing way. This song and Simeon’s Dilemma showcase that more than any others. It feels like he’s halfway ridiculing the hipster culture, but clearly lives in it at the same time.

I love a lot of the parts of this song, but there are a few awkward moments. The bit about the CIA in verse two and Jesus driving a needle exchange truck in verse three both have kind of awkward cadences that disrupt the otherwise persistent dancey feel of the beat.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Last time I heard it: Don’t remember specifically, but some time in the last week driving around.