Celebrating Ten Years of Neon Icon: Riff Raff's Magnum Opus
Diving deep into the debut studio album of American rapper Riff Raff, ten years after its initial release.
On June 24th 2014, Riff Raff released his Neon Icon album. At the time, I was obviously familiar with Riff Raff’s entire persona. He was pretty difficult to ignore, with his zig-zag beard, colorful sunglasses, and shining grills. He seemed to attract significant media attention, most notably regarding James Franco’s resemblance to him in the movie Spring Breakers, as well as showing up alongside Katy Perry at the 2014 VMA red carpet. If all this media attention was just a way to get his name out there, it certainly worked. Much like many others, I saw the flashy album cover of Riff Raff holding a baby in one hand and a puppy in the other, and knew I had to download it. As such a publicly intriguing figure, I was eager to see what his debut studio album of his would sound like. Ten years later, Neon Icon is still in my rotation, and stands out as a high point of Riff Raff’s career.
The album cover for Neon Icon (2014)
Now, I don’t believe that Neon Icon is one of the greatest hip hop releases of the past decade, but I do think it’s an incredible amount of fun, and super entertaining to look back on. The album opens with Introducing the Icon, an absurd opening track that involves Riff playing the character of a ridiculous surfer dude before blasting into a nonstop verse with zero chorus. It’s a perfect opening that prepares the listener for the absurdism that is about to take place. He likens himself to both Alicia Keys and Gucci Mane within the same minute, and ends the song by hoping that everyone’s ready for his album.
What follows after is an impressive exploration of genres that never takes itself too seriously. On Wetter Than Tsunami, Riff repeats a catchy chorus and delivers slow verses that flex his wealth unlike any other rapper I’ve really heard. Lines like “Step inside the club and I smell like Power Ranger” and “I could shoot a BB through a frosted Cheerio” remain hilarious to this day. The song even included a verse from Danny Brown when he released the official music video. This collaboration struck me at the time, since I knew Riff Raff more as a comedian and public persona than respected performer. However, I was proven wrong repeatedly, as big names like Mac Miller, Childish Gambino and DJ Mustard lent their talents throughout the album.
This raised an important question, if other rappers I enjoyed and respected were collaborating with Riff Raff, was he more than just a meme? The way I see it, these more high-profile artists obviously saw how much fun Riff was having with his music, and wanted to contribute to the magic. More importantly, Riff Raff is definitely deserving of respect, not because of the cosigns he receives but because of what he put into this album, which I should get back to talking about.
Riff Raff at the 2014 MTV VMA’s with Katy Perry and Donald Glover/Childish Gambino
We get to hear Riff’s singing voice on Versace Python, where he slows things down and gets a bit more vulnerable. It’s a bit jarring to think about his emotional state, since the persona he presents to the world is always so over the top and colorful. Even the Neon Icon himself sheds tears. The somber tone of the album continues with Lava Glaciers, where Riff Raff and Childish Gambino rap over an old-timey rock sample. The two verses feel jarring, while Riff compares himself to the likes of David Hasselhof and Allen Iverson, Gambino opens up about loneliness amid the age of technology and social media. It’s a really odd verse to listen to ten years down the line, where he disses using emojis in conversation and references old internet memes like Sharkeisha and Terrio.
Moving forward, we hear Riff Raff shine in familiar territory. He repeatedly forges some lyrical magic over trap beats on Aquaberry Dolphin, How to be the Man, and the album’s breakout single, Tip Toe Wing in My Jawwwdinz. These songs combine his signature humour with sharp production that all comes together to produce his signature sound. It’s evident that he works best over this kind of production, but he doesn’t let it box him in. Riff himself even says “I could freestyle to a dolphin and a tambourine”, proving the backing track kinda means nothing to him.
This is most evident on Time, the album’s 11th track. The instrumental samples Hey There Delilah, and finds Riff Raff combining hip hop and modern country. He sings and raps with a southern twang. It sounds pretty silly at first, but the lyrics once again show a vulnerable side of Riff Raff aka Jody Highroller aka The Peach Panther aka The Texas Tornado. He dwells on the passing of time, taking note of how quickly he loses those around him and feels crushed by loneliness. He raps about coming home to an empty house, where he feels cold and has to sleep with the TV on to escape the silence. He even reflects on his old friends that wronged him and stole from him, who now hit him up to hang out now that he’s rich and famous. Even if Time isn’t the most impressive feat on Neon Icon, it’s an admirable contribution that once again shows another side of Riff Raff. The song’s vocal twang and guitar notes make it seem like he’s covering up his emotions with something silly, as if we’ll just laugh along instead of joining him in his misery.
Somehow, there is still one other major genre that gets explored on Neon Icon. Riff Raff tries his hand at making a few honest pop songs. On VIP Pass to my Heart, he uses auto tuned vocals and 80s-style synths, repeating a chorus where he begs for love. On Maybe You Love Me and Cool It Down, he enlists the help of Mike Posner and Amber Coffman to deliver smooth and catchy choruses while he focuses on concise rap verses that address his various frustrations with lost love and his newfound fame.
I would say that just about sums things up, but Neon Icon is a unique listening experience that I feel everyone can get something different out of. Throughout the album, Riff compares himself to a well-known celebrity on almost every single song, he calls himself both the white Eddie Murphy and the White Danny Glover on the same track (How to be the Man). It almost became a trademark of his, alongside his braids, glasses and beard. It’s an interesting thing, to compare yourselves to others so much it almost becomes your trademark. Throughout his entire career, I’ve seen lots of slander thrown towards Riff Raff, calling him a wannabe Lil B, or claiming that he peaked with his Sway In the Morning freestyle. Although the freestyle is insane, I always felt that much of the hate was unwarranted. I haven’t even listened to his past ten or so albums, but I still believe that he cultivated something special on Neon Icon. Even ten years down the line, it still holds up as one of the most ridiculously fun albums of its time, and deserves to be played again and again for the next decade.