Olivier Lafontant

Hollywood, New York

Freelance Writer at Miami New Times

Writer at South Florida Media Network

rap fan @pitchfork

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Articles

MAVI: “Landgrab” [ft. Earl Sweatshirt]

1 week ago | pitchfork.com | Olivier Lafontant

A little while back, I stumbled across a highlight tape of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade from their days hooping in Miami together. They were out there tossing no-look passes and full-court lobs to each other like adults with fake birth certificates at an AAU circuit. Men against boys, as they say. Will we ever see a duo like this again? I don’t know. But at least we have MAVI and Earl Sweatshirt, a pair of young, dexterous craftsmen fluidly working off of each other.
Zukenee: SLAYTANIC

3 weeks ago | pitchfork.com | Olivier Lafontant

There’s a scene at the start of Game of Thrones that lingers in the back of my mind. Two knights are jousting for an audience of royals, aristocrats, and commonfolk. One of them, the brolic, seemingly unstoppable “The Mountain,” suffers a shocking loss to Ser Loras, the effeminate Knight of the Flowers. Embarrassed and incredibly pissed off, the Mountain decapitates his horse with a massive sword. Spectators can’t do anything but gasp.
Zukenee: SLAYTANIC

3 weeks ago | flipboard.com | Olivier Lafontant

Raunchy New Comedy With 95% RT Score That “Should Have Been in Theaters” Dominates StreamingIt seems that movie studios still cannot quite work out when to release movies in theaters and when to dump them on streaming as an exclusive. After …
ST6 JodyBoof: UW6

1 month ago | pitchfork.com | Olivier Lafontant

For any DJs playing in urban pockets of South Florida for the first time: Please don’t queue “Take a Step Back” when you feel like you’re losing the crowd. Put on DJ Chipman’s “Beam Ahhh” instead—a fast-paced staple anchored by a genius flip of Eamon’s “On & On.” Its chipmunked refrain and plucks of guitar hit like spoonfuls of epinephrine; within seconds, everybody’ll start sticking and moving like those tall ass car wash floaties.
Ken Carson: More Chaos

1 month ago | pitchfork.com | Olivier Lafontant

There’s no collective in America commanding the youth like Opium is right now. Somewhere between cold nonchalance and masochistic vitriol lies the Atlanta-based neo-punk brigade, a coven of rappers and producers who mold piercing distortion into organized bedlam. When Playboi Carti launched the label with the release of 2020’s Whole Lotta Red, he was already readying his first protégé.
Chy Cartier: NO BRING INS

1 month ago | pitchfork.com | Olivier Lafontant

A lot of your favorite rappers have catchphrases. People tend to call them “ad-libs,” which sounds cooler, but they’re really just catchphrases—even if they aren’t words at all. There was a time when all it took was a grunt from Rick Ross to let you know a track was getting shut down. From Boldy James’ “Where we at wit’ it?” to Myaap’s “On my daddyyy,” announcing your presence is a requisite in every corner of hip-hop.
Xang: Watch Over My Body

2 months ago | pitchfork.com | Olivier Lafontant

Some music isn’t meant to be heard with anyone else. You don’t listen to Aethiopes or Turn on the Bright Lights and think, “Damn, maybe I should play this the next time I have friends over.” These are records you wallow in alone. In 2023, one of my most played songs of the year was Xang’s “for me,” a spacy, desolate track that wrapped itself around me on streetlit walks home.
5 Takeaways From Playboi Carti’s New Album Music

2 months ago | pitchfork.com | Olivier Lafontant

No more waiting. No more refreshing Spotify. You’re not dreaming. Music is finally here. Music took about four and a half years to materialize, and Playboi Carti matches the long wait with his longest, most wide-ranging album—a nearly 77-minute record that boasts blockbuster features and makes official several fan-favorite snippets. Where Whole Lotta Red felt focused in its brazen, punk-imbued approach, Music sprawls with classic Atlanta rap, industrial synths, and electropop.
5 Takeaways From Playboi Carti’s New Album Music

2 months ago | yahoo.com | Olivier Lafontant

Image by Chris Panicker. Photo by Wagner Meier/Getty Images for Live Nation. No more waiting. No more refreshing Spotify. You’re not dreaming. Music is finally here. Music took about four and a half years to materialize, and Playboi Carti matches the long wait with his longest, most wide-ranging album—a nearly 77-minute record that boasts blockbuster features and makes official several fan-favorite snippets.
thirteendegrees °: Clique City Vol. 2

2 months ago | pitchfork.com | Olivier Lafontant

Not even a decade removed from the end of the Obama years, SoundCloud’s new gen yearns for the millennial zeitgeist: the WorldStar exclusives, teen dramedies, and grainy selfies; the Hood By Air tees and Margiela Futures; even those Imogen Heap and Cortex samples. And it’s not just the rappers—influencers are using old iPhones at runway shows and have been “bringing wired headphones back” since the decade turned.