Based Bass God Thundercat has teamed up with some of the smoothest names imaginable for his upcoming album Drunk, and that’s why it’s such a surprise that his second single off the new album is the exact opposite of baby-making music. On “Friend Zone”, the acid-drenched virtuoso sends up spiteful nerds who view their relationships with women as purely transactional.
Over a piano bed that sounds like “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker” played over the P.A. in the U.S.S. Enterprise, Thundercat gets more and more mean to an unnamed women as it becomes clear that she’s not trying to sleep with him.
“I’m your biggest fan, but I guess that’s just not good enough,” he sings. “Is it ’cause I like to play Diablo?”
The narrator then convinces himself that the whole thing was his idea, saying he’d “rather play Mortal Kombat anyway” and saying that this unnamed woman belongs in the garbage for rejecting his advances. Give it a listen up top. It pairs well with Moutain Dew Code Red.
For more on Thundercat, check out our look into the Los Angeles-based Brainfeeder collective and the warping effect they’re having on the world of jazz as they push it toward the future.