‘Is Teezo going to be this hard metal sex artist or this positive pop artist?” Teezo Touchdown wondered to himself in a 2021 interview after a varied run of singles that included an anxious indie anthem (Social Cues), a community-focused trap ballad (Strong Friend) and a goth-rap track, Mid, about removing mediocrity from one’s life.
Judging by his impish and utterly brilliant debut album How Do You Sleep at Night? the Texas singer-rapper-producer didn’t alight on either option, pulling as it does from power pop, glam rock, R&B, hip-hop, hard dance and more, on songs that are tender, but also Prince-ishly funky and horny. Drake has called the album “some of the best music ever” but Teezo’s had his fair share of critics who accuse him of style – with metal nails in his hair, he looks like a post-apocalytic street punk – over substance. “Teezo Touchdown is the Insufferable Fashion Rapper of the Moment,” went the headline of one particularly scathing Pitchfork article.
