Album review: Rae Sremmurd, Sremmlife

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28 Jan, 2015 08:00 PM2 mins to read

Swae Lee and Slim Jimmy of Rae Sremmurd. Photo / Getty Images

Remember Kriss Kross? Those two-hit wonders who wore all their clothes backwards and wanted to "warm it up" and "make you jump, jump" in 1992? Get ready to meet 2015's version.

Rae Sremmurd come complete with an absurd name (it's "ear drummers" spelt backwards), confusing back story (are they teens or dudes in their 30s?) and some seriously stupid songs.

"Unlock the swag, the swag unlocked" is one of their hooks, chanted so slowly and repeated so often you can barely call it an actual song.

It's a trick rapping brothers Swae Lee (he's 19) and Slim Jimmy (22) use often and, when paired with surprisingly current bass tricks, they can conjure up some heat.

*Warning: Video contains explicit language*

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No Flex Zone and Up Like Trump's minimalist Neptunes-style production and grimy trap trawls certainly sound great thundering out of giant speaker systems.

But they let themselves down with childish rapping, overuse of AutoTune and poorly composed lyrics.

"Chop the top off the Porsche, that's a headless horse," rasps Lee on one of their biggest singles, No Type.

It's a surprise seeing Nicki Minaj pop up on the subtle pause for air Throw Sum Mo. But unless she's seeing something we're not, it's unlikely we'll hear from Rae Sremmurd again.