Sneak breaks from heartache to flex on “OCHO CINCO”

Rap Blog is a weekly showcase of a standout rap song.

One of trap’s most interesting new loverboys, Sneak has three main objects of affection: the designer fashions draped on his body, the drugs that keep his voice at a perpetual whisper, and the women who keep him wrapped around their fingers. The Athens, Georgia, based artist might give off hints of Wayne in his cadence and Pi’erre Bourne in his plush beat selection, but the heart he displays in his songs, from the yearning to the bitterly dismissive, pumps loudly enough to overpower any accusation of wave riding.

His new tape, SHARPSHOOTER, released on March 25, is an engaging project of melodic rap at its most sincere, where on each song it feels like something more than Sneak’s ego is at stake. “OCHO CINCO” is an ideal entry point for fans of Playboi Carti’s “I SEEEE YOU BABY BOI,” a standout from MUSIC for its Porter Robinson-ified hyperbeam of rage rap. It’s Sneak at his most flexy: He’s “blowing zaza like Nagasaki,” muttering memorable bars like they’re afterthoughts with a penchant for funny animal-related wordplay (“With my dog, n****, Dingo” “Diamond water like Flamingo / Got some guap on me like I’m some Pico,” etc). Sneak will have time to love and lose later; for now, he’s focused on blowing some speakers.