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Written by Aidan Werder
16-year-old Queens native, Pasto Flocco continues to carve out his own lane with his latest release, “NBA80s” - which dropped early in April.
“NBA80s” is another impressive entry for Pasto Flocco in his signature, affected style that makes use of intricate, autotune melodies and dynamic ever-changing flows that ride the bassy 808s in interesting and unexpected ways.
The visual for “NBA80s” does just as much to set the 16 year-old apart from the pack as his distinct sound - riding around the city in a white Mclaren, flashing money spreads, and rocking some exclusive drip - including a purple bunny-eared Bape hoodie and an extra special Rick Owens puffer jacket that only a select few could pull off.
Forgoing the usual sounds of New York hip hop - from the golden-era boom bap to the prevailing Brooklyn drill sound - Pasto Flocco instead takes his inspiration from the melodic, rap-rockstar type of artist we’ve seen dominating the mainstream in recent years. When listening to a Pasto track, you can clearly hear the influence of artists like Uzi, Playboi Carti, Yachty, and Lil Tecca - combined with his unique perspective and youthful Queens-native energy to create a captivating style of his own.
Flocco - not to be mistaken for a certain ‘pretty boy’ NYC legend belonging to a particular popular hip hop collective - has several hits under his belt despite his young age. Before picking up the mic, Pasto Flacco was actually one of the highest-ranked middle school basketball players in the state. After he started making music in 2018, he found traction on SoundCloud with the tracks “Pull Up” and “Ball Hard” and began building a following - the latter of which was rereleased on streaming platforms and now sits at almost 2M Spotify streams.
It was the strength of his grassroots following on Soundcloud and social media that put him on the radar of Asylum Records, ultimately joining forces in 2020. Since then he dropped an impressive debut project, Dreams 2 Reality, which included two of his biggest songs to date: the earlier released fav-favorite “Catch Up” and the undeniably catchy hit “Shawn M!” - Flocco’s biggest track to date with over 5M Spotify streams and 2.1M+ views on Youtube. “Shawn M!” is a standout track on account of his super catchy flow, 4-bars of his “Na na na” ad lib, and the fashion statement made by rocking a GAP hoodie and Aaron Rodgers jersey (despite being from NYC) in the accompanying visual. Last year, he also dropped several collabs with fellow Soundcloud-standout, SoFaygo - dropping tracks together like “Pop Out”, “Energy”, and “Double R”.
Pasto Flocco is a super talented young artist who’s only just beginning to scratch the surface of his potential. A breath of fresh air in New York’s drill-era, the promising 16 year-old-artist has a hugely marketable sound that’s sure to resonate far beyond the five boroughs. Check out the video for his latest single “NBA80s” below - and be sure to check out “Shawn M!” and “Catch Up” off his 2020 debut project, Dreams 2 Reality.
