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Remember Kung Fu Banda's Rock and Rap?

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Track 4: "This, I think it's called 'Boot Camp.' Sometimes I play it. Sometimes I don't."

Bluesy, early-'90s street rap. This one is actually pretty tough. This is when we started taking the tape seriously. Lots of talk about guns and paying dues and so on.

Track 5: "I think this is Military G again. I don't know. I just picked them. I didn't write them down."

It's pretty obvious that this isn't the mythical Military G. It's likely made by the same guys who made track four. It's Autotuned trap rap, and is especially interesting when stood up next to the previous track. Five songs in, and Rock and Rap has hit on important sounds from the last two and a half decades.

Track 6: "Uhhh...."

This is a love song. It's clearly a love song. When it played, we had this conversation:

Us: Listen to it, what do you think it's about?

KFB: Love or something.

Us: So you made your science teacher a mixtape with a love song on it?

KFB: I don't know. Give it to your girlfriend. She'll prolly like it.

We've told KFB on countless occasions that we're married. He insists that the idea of marriage is ridiculous.

Track 7: "Sorry."

We had to cut this off one less than ten seconds in because the guy rapping took only that long before dropping a "motherfucker." Up until this point, the tape had managed to be curse-free, which is pretty remarkable.

Track 8: "Oh yeah, this is rock. I like this rock more than the last one."

Semi-compelling minstrel rock. While listening to it, KFB noted that it sounded "like nightmares." It's just about the smartest thing he's ever said.

Track 9: "This is a country song but it's a rock song."

Nope, it's just a country song. That it's included here is nothing short of miraculous. For three days we pondered why it was on here. Surely it meant something more than just that he liked country. We've had 700 days of talking to KFB and never once did he mention anything about country music.

There was a great mystery afoot. Is KFB a mixtape genius? Are there undiscovered layers of his personality? Has his whole aloof persona been some sort of wildly creative Andy Kaufmanization? What, what, what does it mean?

"Oh, I musta put it on there by accident."

Ohgoddammit.

Track 10: "I like this one a lot. It's rock. I like it."

This is some shoegaze rock. There is no better way to end this tape, this bumbledum of music, than with a shoegaze track. The key line comes in the second stanza, when the singer mourns, "Don't forget me. Don't cry when I'm away."

That this line is so heartbreakingly applicable was possibly lost on KFB - he graduates from middle school in six weeks and we will likely never see him again - but that doesn't make it any less significant.

Rock and Rap, son. Easily the most interesting mixtape made by an 8th grade with a mustache nicknamed after an animated movie of all time.


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Shea Serrano