Reminding me of Beastie Boys, Zaidoon Nasir is Who Shot Scott, a rap-rocker with a penchant for challenging high energy into his music. With his new single ‘Fast Car’, he does a rare leap for me by making rap feel effortlessly funky and punky. Between the skipping beats, harsh arpeggiator, and funky basslines, Nasir flips from fast-spoken word verses to enraged shouty choruses as he channels his teenage dispondence into action.
Speaking about his latest single ‘Fast Car’, Who Shot Scott says:
“I wrote this thinking back to being 17 and feeling like the absolute bottom of the food chain…in my teenage brain, a fast car felt like the thing that would magically fix everything.”
That underdog feeling was pushed forward by his high school experience, where he was bullied for being different. After fleeing war-torn Iraq with his mum as a young child, he moved through Moscow before settling in New Zealand. There, he found US hip-hop and video games as his outlet. One of the reasons he was bullied became the title of his forthcoming debut album… ‘HAIRY’. As Zaidoon explains:
“I was an Arab kid who went to a predominantly white school. I loved music and started rapping and posting my songs online, which made me the laughing stock of the school. I was bullied for my body hair, for wanting to make music, and for simply being other. This album is a reclamation project. It takes the very thing that was used against me and turns it into my superpower. Some might say it is the ultimate revenge.”
Fans of alternative hip-hop will feel at home here. I can imagine fans of Beastie Boys, Gorillaz, Outkast, and Tame Impala would appreciate the pointed skewer of Who Shot Scott’s music. I love how fluid the beats and bass are, letting Nasir riff and rage over the top. I’m excited to hear the full album when it releases on 5th June. I feel like this may open a new gateway to hip-hop rock for me, too. This track has such a vibrant glow to it. I’ve had it on repeat today, and it’s pumped me up for a bank holiday weekend of musical journalism, so thank you!
‘Fast Car’ is out now. For more information about Who Shot Scott, including UK and Canada tour dates, visit Who Shot Scott’s Linktree.
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