Connecticut rapper Chris Webby has taken a lot of what Eminem did and distilled it. At times he rants about anger, dysfunctional relationships and substance abuse. It would be charitable to call his song “Chemical Romance” a diary entry about his exes, but really it’s just about his pent-up frustration and inability to express himself to others, and his tendency to blame the women he’s involved with for his own bad decisions.
In that way, it’s a perfect example of America 2017, a bit of testosterone overload and misplaced rage. He has another side, though, and it’s basically about inspiration, being what you want to be and achieving your goals by being single-minded. Webby is obsessed with cartoons, Nintendo games and pop culture. He’s also gotten into hot yoga lately, as a way of keeping his feverish mind at peace. Webby has to be commended for carving out a place in hip-hop for suburban kids raised on gaming culture.
“Sativa,” off of 2017’s “Webster’s Laboratory II,” is an ode to smoking specific strains of weed, parsing the effects of one variety versus others. “Inebriated” is a more general woozy celebration of mind-altering substances of every stripe.
All the consciousness-bending prompts some searching, like the interrogative mode of his “Questionnaire,” which is made up of a string of chin-stroking questions about life and society: “Why do we kill each other? Why don’t we heal each other?”
Chris Webby will be at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven, on Friday, Nov. 24, at 9 p.m. Tickets are $25. toadsplace.com, 203-624-8623.
