''Cartoons'' is the second single by American hip hop artist

Cupcakke Elizabeth Eden Harris (born May 31, 1997), known professionally as Cupcakke (often stylized as CupcakKe; pronounced ), is an American rapper from Chicago, Illinois. She is known for her hypersexualised, brazen, and often comical persona and mus ...

from her third studio album ''

Ephorize ''Ephorize'' is the third studio album by American rapper Cupcakke. It was self-released on January 5, 2018 via TuneCore, after being announced on her official Twitter. The Ephorize Tour was later announced to promote the album and began on Feb ...

''. The song was released November 10, 2017 via

TuneCore TuneCore is a Brooklyn, New York–based independent digital music distribution, publishing and licensing service founded in 2005. TuneCore principally offers musicians and other rights-holders the opportunity to distribute and sell or stream the ...

. It received recognition from

Cardi B Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar Cephus (, ; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper and songwriter. She first gained popularity as an influencer on Vine and Instagram. From 2015 to early 2017, she appeared as ...

, with the rapper posting a line from the song on her Twitter.

Background

CupcakKe announced a single would be coming on November 10, 2017 via her Twitter page. "Cartoons" was then released as a digital download.

Composition

"Cartoons" "incorporates the wall of sound adlibs of her former high school peer

Chief Keef Keith Farrelle Cozart (born August 15, 1995), better known by his stage name Chief Keef, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. His music first became popular during his teen years in the early 2010s among high school s ...

as she barrels through broadside punchlines...while a dissonant

steel drum The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. Descripti ...

pattern swirls behind her." ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

'' stated that "Cartoons" is made up of " breakneck, demented kids'-TV references." ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' reviewed the song stating that "on 'Cartoons' ... CupcakKe returns to her bar-heavy drill mentality, using imagery from '

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighb ...

' and '

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animation, animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative List of Scooby-Doo media, media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the orig ...

' to add color to her boasts. She delivers aggressive raps through wind-chime synths that twinkle around her, as thumping drum patterns alternate. When the beat opens up, leaving nothing but a banging steel drum, she fills up the remaining space with her commanding voice.

Promotion

"Cartoons" received a music video on November 18, 2017. According to ''Mass Appeal'', "there are no visible cartoon characters from her lyrics in the video, but there is a red Bentley to show you how CupcakKe is living, and an attack via baseball bat to show you what happens when you waste her time."

Critical reception

The Musical Hype wrote "'Cartoons'" opens mysteriously, with quirky, 'seedy-sounding' production that foreshadows the heat that's about to drop. Expectedly, cupcakKe enters turned up to the nth degree. The rhymes are quick, hard AF, and not nearly as childish or playful as the title might suggest. Even so, cupcakKe does deliver a cartoonish, catchy hook: ''If I see carats-carrots like Bugs Bunny / I’m Batman, robbin’-Robin for the money / Strip her, bare feet like the Flintstones / Make a Tom and Jerry whole way home / I’m a snack so I attract Scooby Doo’s / Give ‘em Smurf dick, that’s balls blue / I don’t look for niggas so fuck Waldo / Bitch, I’m cocky like Johnny Bravo''." Andrew Matson from Mass Appeal commented, "Lyrically, 'Cartoons' is a flex-a-thon, with a chorus name-checking all kinds of cartoon characters CupcakKe makes the formal concept sound easy ..Rhymes seem to come naturally to her, whether freeform or based on a theme." "Her flow is incredible as she raps over a unique beat filled with all sorts of metallic percussion. Her lyrical capabilities are as great as ever as she combines her sex positivity with some braggadocios bars" wrote The Next Wave Chicago. '' XXL'' calls it "a more traditional, hammering drill track that finds her firing off a barrage of flamboyant, quick-witted flexes in an impressive display of breath control."

References

{{authority control 2017 singles Cupcakke songs 2017 songs Songs about television Songs about fictional characters