I get mad worried when I see rappers wearing gloves, man. Whether it’s in a video or onstage, gloves are a relentlessly reliable red flag that some nerd bullshit is afoot. Jace!, aka TGE Duwap, aka iayze, is a struggle rapper, glove afficionado and single dad out of Texas. Despite the fact this cat is old enough to drink, his promo copy still describes him as a “teenage father,” much like how A-F-R-O was heralded as a “17 year old rapper” for about eight years straight. The product is the product, right?
Between the Soundcloud and TikTok eras, there stands an infinite ocean of pure noise like this. Like any & all rap, it is both easily legible and completely opaque, a byzantine proliferation of beefs, crews, in-jokes, brands and memes, mostly signifying nothing. There is only the ur-text: I am real, you are fake. I am strong, you are weak. I am rich, you are broke. Nothing changes but the dress codes and the dance moves.
On the mic, Jace’s competence betrays his laziness. Most of “Goose Creek” is just bridges being repeated, and his eight bar verses are more stream of thought than certified fly. If you didn’t know about his (meaningless) beef with OsamaSon, aka PradaUMari, aka Lil O, this track would only leave you wondering who “Clarence” is.
As to the beef itself, only their management teams know for sure if these are actual personal problems or just two artists under the Universal Music Group umbrella trying to get some traction in an over-saturated market. Geffen vs. Atlantic, again. These public rivalries are mostly kayfabe these days, and we can expect 10,000 more photocopies like this before 2024 is done.
But why be cynical? OsamaSon is an equally vapid corporate product, a croaking autotune kaleidoscope of bags, bitches and the same litany of drugs any other rapper has to reference. (He is also strangely fixated on Chevy Tahoes; his only distinguishing feature.) Both of these young men are, fundamentally, the same person, so one of them must go. Any given night at Magic City is proof that dopplegangers can inhabit the same space without the Universe even noticing, a parade of identical ballers taking identical selfies with identical bottles. It’s a living, until it’s not.
Nothing about this video or this song is worthwhile, but none of that matters in the face of his sheer reach. This cat sat around his apartment talking to his furniture, wearing gloves, and it is on track to rack up two million views by the time you read this. And let’s be very real: nobody reads this.
Jace! has no personality past his tough guy poses, no fire in his belly to improve on his natural talent, and frankly, I hope he has no need to change any of that up. I hope that he is making a comfortable, lower-middle-class living and making progress towards getting out of his label debt along the way. Otherwise all of this has been a total waste of time. Zero Dickies.
