By Deuce

3Fifs’ latest single, “Big Drip”, which is dropping this Thursday and also features the clean version of “DIVE IN DEEP”, is a study in simplicity. The track is built around a single bar loop of no more than four notes. There’s a sound of a drop of water in it.

And, there’s a gang of rapping with cadences that belie the track’s straightforward appeal, providing a suitable complement to all of the above.

Fif’s high-pitched voice goes through more than a couple acrobatic aerial maneuvers—speeding up, dropping, and brimming to the surface again— throughout this affair. It underscores what’s largely a light-hearted number or, what sounds like one at least, even when he’s reminiscing up about some of the sparser aspects of his childhood. His energy is irrepressible for the duration of the cut and, in this respect, is well directed by the music.

The song is easily in the low 90’s range of BPM, which is an impressive feat all in itself. The snare could be an 808 clap, though it’s freaked with effects that almost make it unrecognizable, if so. The closed high hats rain steadily, a single open one cuts through the drums, and there’s a solitary bass punch (which could also be an 808 kick) that completes things—although there is a changeup when the drum pattern and percussion shifts, amping things up, every now and again.

“DEEP” functions like a quintessential radio tune. Lydia Lyon graces the hook with the gospel/church hymn staple of “wade in the water”, which likely hasn’t been used for secular purposes since the Tonys hit gold (if not platinum) with it on 1988’s Who? When she laces it up the beat breaks down, letting loose with an acoustic guitar and a protuberant snap.

The only thing is, the wading Fif is into, if you know what I mean, is certainly secular and far from ecclesiastical. He takes the listener through pretty much every phase of a gallant episode, as Dumas would’ve put it, with a young one who evidently knows how to please. It’s to the point where all the artist can fathom on the refrain is “the way I backstroke/dive in deep”. With his play-by-play recap of the finer points of such a foray, this one could sit pretty on almost any playlist—earning day time rotation, at that.