DUI

Thundercat's most explicitly comedic track is also, by some measures, his most musically extravagant. The premise — a song from the perspective of someone who may or may not be operating a vehicle under the influence — is treated with deadpan sincerity that only makes it stranger and funnier. The production is maximalist: the bass runs are technically absurd in the best way, the synths are full of themselves, the percussion sounds like it's having the time of its life. His vocal delivery rides the line between earnest confession and self-aware comedy without falling to either side, maintaining perfect ambiguity about how serious any of this is. The song participates in a long tradition of funk music's relationship with excess and transgression — from Parliament's chemical euphoria to Prince's after-midnight escapism — but filtered through Thundercat's very specific 21st century weirdo sensibility. The lyrics are appropriately impressionistic; this is not a song making a literal argument about driving. Best heard at high volume in contexts where someone will ask "what IS this?" with a grin. The answer is: one of the more original artistic sensibilities in contemporary music, doing exactly what he wants.