And when it made that debut, no one had dreamed up the Mannequin Challenge, the viral video meme that is largely responsible for vaulting “Black Beatles” to No. 1 back in late August, “Black Beatles” wasn’t even on the Hot 100-it debuted about a month later, all the way down at No. Infectious as it is, the song’s nationwide explosion was wholly unpredictable, to say nothing of it toppling the Chainsmokers. But this sass is what’s so winning about the song: To the duo, being a “black Beatle” means having arrived at the toppermost of the poppermost, the highest echelon of musical iconography: “Black Beatles in the city/ Be back immediately/ To confiscate the moneys … I’m a, I’m a black Beatle/ Cream seats in the Regal.” It’s a fine addition to the yearslong lineage of hip-hop striver’s anthems-a wittier version, a decade later, of “ Party Like a Rockstar” by fellow Atlantans the Shop Boyz. 2 peak of his 2013 Miley Cyrus production “ We Can’t Stop.”) When the brothers recorded “Black Beatles” earlier this year, it was a bit cheeky to be comparing themselves to the Fab Four-the spooky, synthy trap track sounds nothing like the Beatles, and its lyrics only briefly invoke John Lennon’s glasses and Paul McCartney’s family tree. 1 for Mike WiLL Made-It, who has been a top producer for nearly half a decade. (It’s also, remarkably, the first pop No.
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But no hit in Rae Sremmurd’s two-album catalog has come close to the cross-cultural dominance of “Black Beatles,” their first Top 10 pop hit.