fatboi sharif

​​​​Blue Chips is a monthly rap column that highlights exceptional rising rappers. To read previous columns, click here. There’s nothing inherently wrong with horrorcore. The word emerged as a shorthand for rap that shares commonalities with horror films, songs that traffic in physical and psychological terror. Geto Boys’ “Mind Playing Tricks on Me,” one of the greatest rap songs ever written, fits the bill. But somewhere between Gravediggaz’s “1-800 Suicide” and the first Gathering of the Juggalos, horrorcore became a hackneyed subgenre. Gallons of blood (and Faygo) and graphic dismemberments became an end rather than a vehicle for meaningful social commentary. “I honestly hate that word,” says Fatboi Sharif, one of the brightest and strangest rappers from New Jersey. He speaks from his a...