SNOOT II

Front cover of SNOOT II

*SNOOT II* is the sophomore mixtape by music duo Gang Shloink. It is the follow-up to their February 2022 debut mixtape *SNOOT.* It was released on the 19th of May 2023 under Snoot Records. The album has 28 tracks, with four guest appearances, from The Burger Salesman, two from Lil Hurb, and from Doormandingo.

## Background

*SNOOT II* was first conceptualized in early 2022, during the finalizing of their debut mixtape *SNOOT*, as a follow-up project. After *SNOOT's* February 4th release, the duo immediately started working on *SNOOT II*. However, a few tracks, such as *DISCOMBOBULATED*, and a few now scrapped tracks, had already been written earlier in January of 2022. The recording of the mixtape was done independently by Lil Bruh and iCue, as they were living in different cities at the time, Jönköping, Sweden, and later Gothenburg, Sweden, and Vienna, Austria respectively. The recording of this mixtape was very different than most of Gang Shloink's earlier work, as the group was slower than usual in their recording process. The album took an astounding 15 months to be fully recorded, this being much longer than the usual 1-3 months it usually takes the duo to finish a project, and the ~3-4 months it took to record SNOOT. This came down to a few issues, those being both of the group members being in university at the time, as well as the fact that both of the members' microphones broke in the summer of 2022, forcing them to buy new microphones, and thus having to re-record a lot of the album as the quality of the vocals from the new microphones was noticeably better. These reasons along with the members moving and travelling didn't allow them to be quite as efficient as they usually are.

*SNOOT II* was not announced to Snoot members and other close associates as their previous mixtape had been, rather it was kept a secret within Gang Shloink. The mixtape was the officially teased and then announced through a number of Instagram stories and posts, with the official announcement coming on the 12th of May, and with the tracklist following on the 18th, and three other teasers being posted between those two, using the songs *2AM IN PARIS, S.O.S,* and *AD SHIT* in the teasers. However, the songs, their titles, and lyrics, were all secretly available on Gang Shloink's Genius page for about 6 months before the actual release.

*SNOOT II* went through a lot of issues when it came to recording and finishing the tape, some of which have already been discussed above. The mixtape was originally set for a late June-early July 2022 release, but this date was missed due to the duo only finishing about ~30% of the tape being finished at the time. The duo then set their goals for an August release, planning to finish the mixtape during Snoot's July 2022 trip to Paris, however due to unknown reasons, this goal wasn't met either. Gang Shloink then aimed for a late November release, as their new microphones only came in sometime in October, however due to Lil Bruh's travels during November, this goal was not hit either. The duo then theorized about a mid December or Christmas release, however, this idea was scrapped as well due to issues with features from the mixtape. The group finally decided not to set an aim and just finish it, going on to do so in mid-May, 2023, with a subsequent release on the 19th of May.

In the end, *SNOOT II* had 28 tracks, of which 25 were songs, and three were scenes. *SNOOT II* also went through a lot of changes, the project ending up having 11 scrapped songs, as well as four scrapped skits, which were replaced by the three scenes. There was also supposed to be three additional features which simply weren't put on the album due to a variety of issues and challenges, notably on the song *2AM IN PARIS*, which was supposed to feature a third verse from Snoot member Ines Penis, which would've been her debut, as well as Nayjaids, who had previously been featured on the duo's 2022 song *A LOVE LETTER TO QUSAY*, who was meant to feature on two songs, both of which got scrapped as Gang Shloink could not secure her features. Notable songs that were scrapped was a follow-up to their 2022 song *BERTHA,* a follow-up to their 2022 song *A LOVE LETTER TO QUSAY,* a song called */SRS*, which was meant to be a counterpart to their song */J* on the mixtape, along with many more.

## Singles & Cover

*SNOOT II* had three lead singles, being *BUSTING & BURSTING & BOOSTING*, released on the 27th of June 2022, *SLURP*, released on the 12th of July 2022, and *PARK*, released on the 28th of October 2022.

The cover of the project contains a box with all of Snoot's 10 members, from top left, across: Nayjaids, Ines Penis, Le Blaque, and Doormandingo on the first row, Microman, Lil Bruh, and iCue on the second row, and Crispy Cumsock, Shamma Meow, and Impostor Angie on the last row. The cover was made Lil Bruh over the period of August 2022 through May of 2023. The cover displays the texts "SNOOT II" and "GANG SHLOINK" near the bottom, as well as the text "STUPID MUSIC FOR STUPID PEOPLE" near the top, which is an interpolation of a quote which Snoot member Ines Penis once said in reference to Gang Shloink's previous mixtape *SNOOT*, saying: "...my stupid friends made this stupid song about our stupid group", which was also sampled on the bridge of the project's last song *GOOB NIGHT.* The cover also has the Snoot Records logo also situated near the bottom of the cover. The cover also features a "plastic-wrap" overlay as well as a subtle outline of a circle on it, this was done to make it look like a vinyl record, which both Gang Shloink members are known to collect.

## Style

With *SNOOT II*, Gang Shloink both expanded their musical styles, as well as took styles explored on previous projects such as *SNOOT* and improved them. In contrast to *SNOOT*, *SNOOT II* didn't try to replicate older songs, with one exception, the song *S.O.S* being very sonically and lyrically similar to *SNOOT's* FUGYO. However, they would do this much less than on *SNOOT*, where songs such as *YOU ARE SUS* sounded similar to June 2021's *CUM ON MY WRIST*, *COGENBOL* sounded similar to September 2020's *MY MOM DIED IN A 1TB HARD DRIVE LAST WEEK*, *and GOBBLEDYGOOK* sounded similar to both May 2021's *DECAPITATION* and August 2020's *BREAD*.

However, *SNOOT II* did take some of the general sounds or styles of some songs from *SNOOT* and improved them. On *SNOOT*, Gang Shloink debuted their "rage" type beat songs, such as *5AM IN JBR*, *YOUR MOTHA WAS A TRUCK A DRIVA*, and *MAGIC MOMENTS*, and now on *SNOOT II* songs such as *MIDDLE CLASS MINION, SESH SNATCHER, BUSTING & BURSTING & BOOSTING, /J,* and *2AM IN PARIS* took that sound and improved it, this style being very prominent in in the first half of the mixtape. This project also saw a notable reduction of their traditional "GS" type beats, only really seen on two songs, those being *S.O.S* and *PARK*. The duo also continued on exploring a more chill sound, expanding on *SNOOT's* *A LOVE LETTER TO QUSAY, SEMI SESH,* and *GN STREAKS*, with songs such as *SAY IT OR SAY IT, 6AM IN DUBAI, ULTRA SESH,* and *GOOB NIGHT*. The duo also expanded their sonic landscape, using some more interesting beats that don't really sound like anything they've released previously, with songs such as *WAGWAN, I COUNT BURGERS, DOING THE LEAST, SLURP, GRONIGANG,* and *AD SHIT*. Using slap-house, brass-heavy instrumentals, boom bap, and more dark and heavy sounds on some songs.

Gang Shloink didn't continue using "skits", as was previously done on SNOOT, rather, opting for "scenes", which are more of a narration which help tell the story of the album and of Snoot as a group. The mixtape features three scenes, *SCENE I, SCENE II,* and *SCENE III,* which came before the songs *2AM IN PARIS, GRONIGANG,* and *SANS ISSUE.* Scenes *I* and *II* were narrated by Snoot member Impostor Angie, and *SCENE III* was narrated by Snoot member Nayjaids.