Living vicariously through “New Patek”

By Barrett Wong, Staff Writer

“New Patek, the latest song by Lil Uzi, dropped on September 18 and caught the attention of many within minutes. With its creative angles and odd style, “New Patek” stood out and made a name for itself. Along with Uzi’s playful rapping, the listener really gets a feel of what it’s like to have a millionaire lifestyle.

“New Patek” is just under six minutes long, which is unconventionally long for a rap track, hinting that it doesn’t pertain to the boundaries of an average hip-hop song. Uzi experiments with his flow on “New Patek”, adding fast quips and spurts here and there along with an alternating beat that differentiates each verse. “New Patek” is much different from the song Uzi used to tease his album released last year, “Luv is Rage 2,” which was much shorter. But that doesn’t seem to make “New Patek” any less popular, as it already has climbed the top charts of popular music streaming apps such as Apple Music and Spotify.

While “New Patek” may be predominantly filled with Uzi bragging about himself, his clever rhyme scheme makes it interesting to hear about. Uzi chooses very arbitrary phrases and ties them back to his bougie lifestyle, bringing new perspective to the song. The line, “She from the six one nine, Rey Mysterio (let’s go),” cleverly uses a wrestler as a way to prove where one of his lovers is from. The “six one nine” is the wrestlers’ finishing move know by most WWE wrestling fans. But while it seems like a random number, it actually represents the area code of San Diego where he’s from. In another line, “I am a octopus, I cannot breathe without water,” Uzi compares how he can’t survive without his diamonds similar to how an octopus can’t live on land. He needs his jewelry to feel whole and to live his life.

Aside from just flexing, Uzi shows off his chaotic energy and mischief throughout the song. Uzi leaves no stone unturned, filling all six minutes of “New Patek” with his charisma and oozing ego. He uses lines like “Makin’ rain ’cause I’m up in the clouds” to prove so. Referring to the common slang of throwing money in the air, to “make it rain,” he isn’t at all worried what people may think about his attitude.

Not all of Uzi’s lines in “New Patek” are the words of a self-centered artist. Some have a deeper meaning that most may overlook such as “Live off verbs, and I live off of nouns.” In this line, Uzi suggests that his actions speak much louder than his words. “I do not get in Canada, but when I’m in Toronto they treat me like Drake” is another line in which the true meaning may go unnoticed. Uzi has had immigration issues in the past getting into Canada for concerts, so when he finally gets in everybody treats him like Drake, another extremely popular artist, while he’s there.

Uzi concludes “New Patek” by rapping through half of one of his previous verses before fading away, leaving a perfect segue into his new upcoming album called “Eternal Atake.” “New Patek” encompasses Uzi’s undying love for luxury items along with his various lifestyle choices. Uzi’s expression of himself and his lifestyle combined with his joy for hip-hop make the six minutes go by quickly. It is certainly fit for a specific audience, and some may not understand the concept of what Uzi is rapping about. However after listening to it a few times, the listener eventually gains insight into the wonderful world inside Uzi’s imagination.