Watch Mac DeMarco and Kenny Beats make “Italian-American gangster rap”

Mac DeMarco and Kenny Beats tried to make an “Italian-American gangster rap” freestyle on the latest episode of the producer’s series The Cave.

The YouTube series sees Beats and a guest, including the likes of Slowthai, Thundercat and Danny Brown in the past, make a song from scratch.

Asked by the producer what he wanted to make, DeMarco replied: “We’re smoking cigars. I am 25 per cent Italian. People talk a lot about ‘gangster rap.’ A lot of Italian-Americans in the movies are gangsters. How come there’s no Italian-American gangster rap?”

“Are you about to bar up?” Beats said. “You can’t rap, Mac!” The indie musician responded: “Absolutely not, but I can try.”

Watch Beats and DeMarco try and bring their “Italian-American gangster rap” track to life below.

Last year DeMarco gave an update on his aims for new music, saying he has no plans to release new material while the coronavirus pandemic is ongoing.

“I’ve been writing songs, but the idea of doing a full record and then the idea of that record coming out in the middle of a pandemic digitally only, and then there’s no prospect of ever performing these things unless it’s on a live stream or something..,” he said.

“I’m worried we’re going to come out of coronavirus, and there’s going to be 9,000 albums that are all like: [Singing] ‘Oh quarantine, baby, baby’.”

Meanwhile, Beats released a new collaborative project with Denzel Curry in March. ‘Unlocked 1.5’ was a reimagining of the pair’s 2020 collaboration ‘Unlocked’ and featured contributions from Arlo Parks, Joey Bada$$, Benny The Butcher and more.