Rare RCB hexD.mp3

Rare RCB hexD.mp3 was produced by American rapper and producer Stacy Minajj of the music collective Hexcastcrew.^[1] The DJ mix was made through samples and remixes of songs by the Internet rap collective Reptilian Club Boyz.^[2][1] The mix made use of techniques such as bitcrushing and tempo acceleration,^[3][1] which became a core aspect of the Internet microgenre hexD.^[4][5] The term "HexD" originally emerged through Hexcastcrew, who according to Sticki, the founder of netlabel Dismiss Yourself, "hex songs—in their words, they cast spells [via] bitcrushing the music."^[2][6] Music publication Passion of the Weiss, credited Stacy Minajj with coining the term.^[5][1]

Writing for Pitchfork, music journalist Kieran Press-Reynolds stated that the underground scene in the early 2020s was "splintering every which way, from wailing digicore to bitcrushed hexD."^[7] He credited Reptilian Club Boyz as being alongside other groups in "the nexus for a new vanguard".^[7] Nashville rapper Hi-C, who founded the collective, is noted as "a key influence on the development of HexD" according to The Fader.^[8]

RCB hexD.mp3 was released on June 15, 2019 by Stacy Minajj on the SoundCloud account "tomoe_theundy1ng".^[1] The original upload was later deleted.^[1] The album cover featured an anime succubus.^[1] In August 2019, the label Dismiss Yourself uploaded the album to its YouTube channel.^[2] Writing for Complex, Press-Reynolds stated that the album circulated online for months, "accruing tens of thousands of YouTube views" and developing a cult following on the website Rate Your Music.^[5][3] Writing for Bandcamp Daily, he noted it had became one of the most viewed releases on the Dismiss Yourself channel and regarded it as "forum-core", due to it growing a cult following on discussion threads with fans who "devise intricate conspiracy theories related to the albums' mystifying origins".^[9] At the time of the album's release, its creator and the titles of the original tracks were unknown.^[3] The original unmixed versions of the Reptilian Club Boyz songs were also briefly lost.^[3][1] When the original songs were found, Press-Reynolds noted that fans "felt like something essential was missing without the deformities created by the mystery remixer".^[3]

Music journalist Kieran Press-Reynolds stated of the album, "the collection sounds catastrophic, like a heavy van ran over the original tracks and this is what's left."^[3] Adding that, "The songs are also sped up, which makes the rappers sound hyperreal."^[3] He further stated that, Reptilian Club Boyz made use of several digital effects and "when these kinds of sparkly textures get flattened, the end product sounds like it's coming out of the 8-bit speakers of a Game Boy".^[3] Music publication Passion of the Weiss compared the album to nightcore remixes due to its anime cover art and speed.^[1] Adding that the album was "cloud rap so cloudy it transcends into noise" and noting that bitcrushing has never "been used to such psychedelic effect".^[1]

The album inspired several producers on SoundCloud to make similar mixes.^[1] Music journalist Kieran Press-Reynolds cited the Rare RCB hexD.mp3 as "crystallizing the surge scene".^[3]