A-1 - “Unpredictable (The Repo Man)” Video

A-1 has that kind of screwed-up, comic-book flow that made Kendrick Lamar a beloved, cult figure in rap even before Good Kid M.A.A.D City came out. A-1, aka Adam Traore, manipulates the pronunciation of words like Play-Doh, skewering the “pussy money weed flow” and the illogical structure of retirement in the same verse. He’s splitting the difference between an Italian mother and a Senegalese father, so the fascinating way he morphs rhythms is solely his own. There’s nothing preachy here though, and the 27-year-old Bay Area rapper is just as likely to throw in a snack-stunt simile like “The whole Bay know I’m popping like I opened up a Pringles can” alongside his cultural critiques. The video is loosely based on its namesake, the 1984 action movie Repo Man, but I’ve never seen that film so I keep getting Back To The Future flashbacks as I watch this. A-1 is a West Coast rapper to the core, which means even when a time-space continuum is at stake, he raps like he’s laying back in an easy chair. “Unpredictable (Repo Man)” is off Traore’s latest mixtape Thurlian, and after hearing this I’m definitely going to be spending some time with it this weekend. Fun fact: ‘Gum staff writer Gabriela is from the Bay too, and she used to work at a summer camp with Traore.