Indy 500 pole winner Robert Shwartzman has a rap song. We rated it.
Indy 500 pole winner Robert Shwartzman has a rap song. We rated it.
Robert Shwartzman became a popular Google search topic Sunday after the IndyCar rookie shocked the racing world by qualifying for pole position in this weekend's Indy 500. And those who searched long enough came across one little obscure fact about the 25-year-old that certainly got our attention here at FTW: he's also a rapper...
Kinda.
Under the moniker Shwartzy, the Russian-Israeli driver has just one song from what I can tell -- a 2023 track called ACTIVE -- but the recording quality is actually not bad. One can only assume he plans to release more music when he isn't so busy putting Prema Racing on the IndyCar map.
Now, look, as someone who also records music on the side, I'm not here to judge another rapper... or, er, actually, that's exactly what I'm here to do. But not for the attempt, only for how good it is. I gave ACTIVE a listen, and it gets a solid C- from me.
Depending on what you prefer in a good song, the rating is either too low or too high, which is exactly why it's perfect. The beat is good, which does the heavy lifting for ACTIVE, and the hook is somewhat catchy, which completes half the battle in making something that doesn't stand out for all the wrong reasons. Those elements alone make this good background music. But the harder you listen, the harder it is to... well, listen.
Shwartzy is basically doing a bad impression of modern rap songs carried by melodies more than actual lyrics (even the ad libs are familiar), which can make some lyrics hard to understand and disguise the cheesy song-writing in the parts you do decipher. And though he eventually finds his footing towards the end of his lone verse, it starts with an awkwardly choppy flow that occasionally misses the beat.
Overall, it's not terrible, but after qualifying for the Indy 500 pole, it's easy to see why he hasn't put out more music. Shwartzman might have a brighter future behind the wheel than he does behind the mic.
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