“Robin Hood” is a study in trap populism. Donning a feathered Bycocket, a thin layer of distorted autotune, and a passion for forcible wealth redistribution, North Carolinian BBY GOYARD portrays the tune’s titular character with impressive accuracy, his warbly hooks sauntering through a thicket of K Swisha-esque keyboard riffs with a late-feudal sense of twee-pop merriment. It’s undoubtedly the sort of raw, uber-melodic new wave that Hood and his band of outlaws would have cooked up in their Sherwood studio if they had access to 808s: the perfect balance between Rae Sremmurd’s steadfast dedication to sing-song simplicity and Goth Money Records’ crepuscular lo-fi aesthetic.
This brand of fuzzed-out charm and offhand revolutionary sentiment have the potential to make BBY a post-internet folk hero in his own right, given he continues to channel the spirit of his medieval counterpart so deftly.