Best New Tracks - Pitchfork: D.R.A.M. and Erykah Badu’s “Wifi” Is a New Hallmark of Modern Love

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D.R.A.M. and Erykah Badu’s “Wifi” Is a New Hallmark of Modern Love Posted: 21 Oct 2016 08:37 AM PDT Readily available access to unlimited data is the lifeblood of modern relationships, but staying connected 24/7 comes at a steep price. It makes WiFi passwords, at friend's or partner's homes, feel like gestures of actual charity. To date, D.R.A.M.'s career has been about brazenly expressing modest desires and small tokens of appreciation. On his first hit, "Cha Cha," he wanted to dance with a girl who looks likes the star of the Nickelodeon show Taina. On Chance the Rapper's Coloring Book, he reminded everyone that they are special. Alongside Lil Yachty, on "Broccoli," he expressed a newfound love of lox. "Wifi" is a highlight of D.R.A.M.'s just-released debut LP, in which he links with Erykah Badu, who famously told her friend she could not use her phone to check on her boyfriend. D.R.A.M. sharpened his crazy-in-love lothario persona on 2015's solid Gahdamn! EP, and he fully consumes the role here. As slap-bass punctuations call back to new jack swing slow jams, his voice stretches to a husky whisper. "Do you got Wifi?" D.R.A.M. sings, and it might as well be a drunken wish to get married. By the time Badu introduces you to her apartment—with the wondrous line, "Do you like my feng shui in my living room?"—"WiFi" crescendos in emotional intensity. It become a new hallmark for modern love.