“Moody” by Missing-nin

There’s a rather relaxed feel to the sway of “Moody,” one of the many hype-worthy singles gaining traction on the underground side of hip-hop this late autumn season, but if you know anything about its vocalist in one Missing-nin, you know that its disarming nature exists only to lure us into a false sense of security. From the moment we press the play button forward, we’re in the palm of Missing-nin’s hand as he constructs a suffocating, atmospheric groove, and whether you want to turn back or not, the mere idea of doing so is dashed inside of this single’s first twenty seconds. In the era of TikTok, this bite-sized bolt of lightning is exactly what the doctor ordered anyone ailing from a mundane hip-hop playlist. 

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/missing.nin/?hl=en

Although there isn’t anything pushing the bass into the drums, I think there’s a bit of intentional clutter on the bottom end of this track that adds to the stateliness of the lead vocal. There’s plenty of space for Missing-nin to move away from the rhythm and do his own thing, fostering perhaps a more melodic hook and a spot for a guest to come in on a potential remix, but that’s just not his aim with this performance – he wants us to embrace the nauseating, rather claustrophobic feel of this insular master mix. It’s not the way that most of his peers would go about making a new song, but then again, this is why we’re talking as much about him as we are this time of year. 

Missing-nin’s voice aside, the cadence of his verses leaves nothing to be desired; he’s so on top of the words here that there are moments where it feels like more of a polished freestyle than something rehearsed and brought to life within the four walls of a recording studio. I haven’t heard him battle on the street, but if it holds even a fraction of the presence that we catch him with in this performance, I don’t have any doubts as to who would emerge the victor from most any contest he gets himself into. You can’t learn any of the skills he’s putting up in “Moody” at a school; they’re refined over the course of years and miles of experience that is irreplaceable in this genre of music. 

This isn’t the most accessible single in Missing-nin’s collective body of work, but it is the most endearing in terms of technique and calculated concept. “Pew Pew Pew” and “Mine” are a lot more radio-ready than this is, but that wasn’t the point of producing “Moody;” this is an exhibition, a tour de force for the sake of making one, and it tells us a lot about who Missing-nin is becoming in the short year that he’s been rocketing out of obscurity. There’s no way to know what kind of depth he’s going to have in ten years, but if this is the start of his campaign, one has to question how stable a place his rivals are in right now. He’s coming for the competition hard, and that’s the core narrative here. 

Timothy Ball