What a week. It’s almost Christmas. What I really want for the holidays? I want someone to write me a personalized code that knows my preferences, will sift through my gmail, and automatically delete all the press releases for music that I won’t like. This is “You Wouldn’t Know” (I stole that title from an Aaron Cohen track, he doesn’t seem to mind). This week, young, somewhat intense, but over-all talented hip hopper, rap artist Push Push.

Push Push is Nicci St Bruce (at least that’s what Facebook says and who has the time to look elsewhere for the facts). She’s from Cape Town. And upon first glance, she’s just one of a million good looking women on social media self-idolizing for no reason. Now, through this gigantic assumption of vapid bravado, you think you’d come to discover an individual highly unaware of their station, but not true.

Plainly, the assumption couldn’t be further than the truth. And plainly, I’m glad I discovered the Push Push Soundcloud page before I discovered Nicci’s personal social media accounts. As the bitter human being that I am online (not IRL, promise), I would have been quick to jealously judge the shit out of an online persona from an intellectual podium that’s really a figment of my own ego and imagination.

Back to the point. I’m glad I found the Soundcloud. Originally I found Oh! Dark Arrow, a great rap group with a name, that for some reason, seems like it’s trying to point out that they’re sophisticated enough to enjoy some Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Well, that was just “okay” in comparison to the solo work of St Bruce as Push Push. The hyper-self-aware lyricism that is quick to roundhouse itself before throwing shade on another defines a delicate artistic balance. This is the essence that separates the socialite from the artist.

That essential line is the largest grey area it can possibly be in the year 2014- soon 2015. While some utilize the convention to mock the convention, while simultaneously paying homage to the convention, while simultaneously mocking that homage to that convention, others truly believe their own internet lie. Which person is creative at the core? I’ve always thought art is just a good lie that demands another’s truth. So again, like last week, I recommend nothing; you can figure it out for yourself.

St Bruce’s originals pull from a stylistic timbre that rarely graces the hip hop wave, leaving behind tracks like “Jut Life” and “Atom Bomb”. In tracks like these we hear a dissonance that most in the pop scene are afraid to touch however, Push Push gives it a crack with grace and pride, announcing (with hyper-self-awareness) that she has indeed arrived, and you should, indeed follow suit. This attention to tonal detail reflects a complexity that, on the surface, is not overtly played out. It’s this bottom feeding intelligence that gives the music it’s true personality, pushing it beyond the realm of singular appreciation into something culturally relevant.

If you like to throw your hands in the air and keep ahead of the curve, check out Push Push, especially the Einstein Adonis Remix  of “Jut Life” and dawn on your own imagination the pop enigma of an icon that asks questions without breaking the overall feels of the party. Four stars. Two thumbs up. Happy Holidays.

@Dingusonmusic