New Music Friday: January 11th, 2018 - HipHop | HipHop Channel

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New Music Friday: January 11th, 2018 - HipHop

New Music Friday: January 11th, 2018 - HipHop

New Music Friday: January 11th, 2018

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 08:39 AM PST

I skipped last week bc there wasn't much new stuff so I'll include some of that

Albums

COMETHAZINE - BAWSKEE 2

wifisfuneral & Robb Bank$ - Conn3ct3d

Watsky - Complaint

Chester Watson- Guru, Vol. 2-4 (Old projects now on streaming)

Big KRIT - TDT (comp of his 2018 EPs)

Taboo - Yearbook 2018

Justo the MC & maticulous - Mind Of A Man

Retch - Richer Than Opps

new Strick album/mixtape thing

EPs

MmmCherry - Lost EP

The God Fahim - Shogun's Odyssey: The Preamble EP

Knxwledge- MEEK.VOL4_ (not on streaming)

HiDoorah & Dolly White - Slimestas EP

Singles

NoName - Song 31 (feat. Phoelix)

Gesaffelstein & The Weeknd - Lost In The Fire

Future - Crushed Up / Jumpin on a Jet

D'Angelo- Unshaken

Boogie - Silent Ride

iLoveMakonnen - Spendin' (feat. Gucci Mane)

Halsey - Without Me (feat. Juice WLRD)

Kemba - Deadass

Bhad Bhabie - Babyface Savage (feat. Tory Lanez)

Kxng Crooked - 96 GS

YGTUT - Mind Ya Business

CupcakKe - Squidward Nose

K$upreme - 16' (feat. Soulja Boy)

Fithgod- Transgression (feat. Radamiz, Da$h & Ab-Soul)

Jacquees - You (Remix) (feat. Blueface)

Loosies

Aminé - hunnybee remix

GoldLink - Justine's Interlude

Ugly God - Butterfly Doors Freestyle

Blockhead - Kiss The Cook (feat. Aesop Rock)

YelaWolf - Gangsta Walk (Get Buck Freestyle)

Casey Veggies & Rockie Fresh - Demeanor (feat. Curren$y)

submitted by /u/TheRoyalGodfrey
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Album of the Year #38: Bladee - Red Light

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 02:28 PM PST

Artist: Bladee

Album Cover: Red Light

Listen:

YouTube

Spotify

Apple Music

Background

Perhaps one of the most exciting artists out there right now, Bladee is a genre defying Swedish rapper and singer hailing from Sweden known for his highly emotional lyrics and unique style of autotune usage. As part of the group "Drain Gang", along with members Ecco2k, Thaiboy Digital, and Whitearmor, in addition to the heavy affiliated "Sad Boys" with Yung Lean, they have consistently carved out such a unique corner of internet music with their own style of drowsy experimental hip hop for the past six years, putting out tons of music, reinventing themselves non stop. They don't appear to be slowing down any time soon, as they continue to put out some of the best and most innovative music in the world. These guys are the forefront on the underground music, spanning not only hip hop but across different genres of electronic, dance, club, alternative, indie, and much more, in addition to being pioneers in fashion. Their influence knows no bounds; the modern day music scene would be completely different without them.

It's no surprise that Bladee and have such an enormous cult fanbase of fiends and kids who spend all their time on Internet forums that copy everything they do and wear and would die for them. They have managed to craft such a distinct aura around them as artists, there is a flicker of mystique and sorcery surrounding the air they breathe and the life they exhibit both on and off social media with the pictures they post and the graphic art they show and the clothes they wear. It's not just the music these people fall for, it's the image too, and the incredible drained aesthetic. It would not be a stretch to call Drain Gang one of most forward thinking groups out there.

By looking through his career, you can pinpoint exactly how he has evolved to the current state of trash star and observe how natural it has been. Bladee got put on the map by releasing cutting edge singles as he blew up with Yung Lean in 2013. Solidifying his position as a true artiste, his debut mixtape dropped in early 2014 to amazing reception, as we got the first authentic look into him. In 2016, Bladee released one of the best albums of all time, an absolute masterpiece, Eversince. Eversince was the birth of Drain Gang and drain aesthetics, marking a significant shift in the shape of his career. After cooling down a bit, they released the collaborative ethereal D&G, a compilation album of Drain Gang marked by similar sounding, depressive bouts of drain. Slowly, Bladee started building the world of Red Light. The first song on his 2017 mixtape "Working On Dying" with Philadelphia producers Working on Dying features the name of Redlight Moments, in which he talks about eating the night and the world being made of silicone. Even by just looking at the cover of the mixtape, you can tell how the feeling of trash oozes off it. Other songs on the tape feature the same themes expressed on Red Light, though not nearly as complex.

And now we're here at Red Light, the moment Bladee's been building up to, executive produced by Whitearmor. It is filled with existential grooves marked by both ballads and bangers alike, an exploration deep into the mind of insanity. I'm sure many of you are aware of the one Anthony Fantano gave Red Light, though I would not let that steer you away from what is perhaps one of the most extraordinary albums of 2018.

Review

Red Light is the pure embodiment what it means to live a life of trash filled with decay, rotting away, indulgence, drugs, and big malls. When I think of something fulfilling the image of the modern day consumerism driven mentality, the aesthetics of this album immediately come to mind.

While many people seem to think that Bladee concocts only shallow, surface level content in his music, I feel that Red Light is a coherent, strong exploration of the utter waste damaged people feel. If you aren't a devout fan of Bladee, are just simply listening to this project for the first time, or just can't relate to the drained out lifestyle, it might be hard to understand. What does Red Light mean? What is this heavy autotuned shit that doesn't even sound like proper singing?

When Bladee alludes to the red light, he is referring to the forces in life that impede him from achieving and doing. It's a pretty strong metaphor for the standstill that the mental blockage of depression puts your mindset in. As you settle into your early adulthood after adolescence, a sense of plateauing is what follows: you feel the dread edging as you slowly slip into away, and what happens is that you eventually give yourself to the Red Light. We see Bladee transform into a completely different person as he can't even recognize himself, until he finally succumbs to this corruption, allowing it to take over him. At this stage, this harsh disillusionment, nothing feels real anymore; there is no sense of meaning, no purpose - what is most preferable is to simply rot away, coping with short highs by smoking and indulging in materialism that will eventually leave you displaced with even less energy and feeling. Throughout Red Light Bladee searches for what is real, as he explores visions of dreams left squandered, untapped potential, and aspirations and skills that were once but are now lost.

Bladee builds his own little made up trash world with repeated themes and motifs of eating the night, taking out the trash, draining, along with submissive imagery and allusions to dogs and some other things I can't recall right now. These repeated topics serve to create a single coherent, connected thematic piece of work. Listening to Red Light while paying attention to the lyrics makes you feel like you are actually in his world. Perhaps Bladee is implying that this artificial world is something he delves into to shelter himself from the outside, escapism to hide his loss of general feeling? Getting lost into the imaginary is something many do. He's built himself as the character of the trashstar, a trashman - the waster, the one who slowly wastes his life away.

Some find Bladee's vocals to be absolutely abhorrent. They are an acquired taste for sure, and may not immediately seem pleasing, but to me, Bladee's singing is the pure essence of bliss. The processing and layering going on here is an insane feat. I have never seen another artist utilize autotune in such a striking way, breaking the barriers of what can be achieved vocally. Bladee has an amazing ear for melodies, and, while it is an often overused term, uses his voice as the perfect instrument. His beautiful harmonies are striking; Bladee fills the background atmosphere of songs with it, creating such perfect moments when his vocals play off each other, or add to one another until the multiple layers of autotune crooning become one, single insurmountable cloud of autotune that makes you just wallow in its strange beauty, contemplating your own existence. The robotic nature of the cold, lifeless tone of his voice expresses the artificial feeling all too prevalent in Bladee's life and our own, showing how we as a whole have become numb to the polluting nature of society; how today we shroud ourselves in complacency and simple pleasures to hide what's real. Is he real? Are any of us real? This is what capitalism has made us.

To compliment and shape Bladee's empty, faux world of synthetic machinery, whitearmor delivers a bubbly climate of instrumentals devoid of any oxygen, revolving around deep icy, airy synths that almost pierce the ear but at a gentle stride. His repeated playful melodies add to the damaged but fairy like aesthetic. I find the pulsating piano lead of Decay constantly stuck in my mind; though not overtly complex, Whitearmor knows how to create exactly the perfect feelings of melancholy drenched apparitions in his work, leaving the listener impressed with lasting convictions. The dark, brooding pads create a foreboding atmosphere in For You. Some songs seem to have almost a glossy like texture to them, as if they were a mask concealing the real in the futuristic age of the now. To listen to Whitearmor is to feel emotion.

There is trap influence, but it'd be a huge disservice to the album to just simply label it trap and nothing more, as it cannot be described as even remotely derivative or uninspired as the vast majority of trap can be. There is actual effort and creative thought put into this production. Rattling hi hats are abundant, but by paying close attention to just the drums, picking out little details to them, you start to realize how incredibly varied and complex Whitearmor's rhythmic patterns are. He also takes very good advantage of the stereo field to create a proper sense of space and breath.

Whitearmor is far more elaborate than the average rap producer. Song structure is experimented with a lot here; the usual verse - hook verse - hook - verse format is not found. Instead, we find varied, lengthy instrumental intros and outros, songs with Many times, he will build on a single concept or motif then will just keep adding and adding layers, bringing thing them in and out of the mix until finally, at usually the last hook, they all come back in, leaving you with a bombastic impact. The glissful harmonies building on top of each other at the end of Westfield is a highlight; another being the shimmering feel of Nike Just Do It. Fellow producers Yung Sherman and Gud bring a nice flair to Golden Boy and College Boy, respectively.

There are only two featured artists, but they manage to bring memorable and important contributions to the album. Ecco2k delivers probably the best and most memorable verse of 2018 on the song Obedient, where he channels his inner angel to portray a haunting picture of the daringness of pure youth and ecstasy. On For You, he goes back and forth with Bladee, trading bars characterized by illustrations of betrayal, darkness, and yearning. The chemistry the two have together is just impeccable, and you can feel the bond they have for each other as it extends through their music. There is a slight punk rock feel on That Thing You Do as Uli K's raw, harsh slurring of his British accented vocals bring about the bloody pain dealt by relationships, while Bladee croons softly in the back, his inflection bringing upon enlightenment.

The height of the album, Puppet Master, is opened with an obscure japanese ASMR sample along with a hauntingly simple guitar lead. The track is a heartbreaking journey of overcoming - I was almost brought to tears - as we learn that it is actually the drain that has saved Bladee from ruin. Drain is a lifestyle. As said by Bladee himself, it can be a good or bad thing: "#Drain is about loss and gain; you could be drained of energy or you could drain something to gain energy. Basically, if I'm talking about 'eating the night' that means I drain it for its essence. Everything me and my bros do is connected to that concept -- we might drain some blood for good fortune." When the whistling comes in after the emotionally wrought climax brought upon by booming bass, the sense of utter euphoria floods the listener.

To top the project off, Bladee closes the album with the simply triumphant I'm Goofy.

Embracing what it means to live like trash, Bladee is truly the trash man. On Red Light, he lets you into his outsider world of waste and decadence defined by decay. Some may get and like it. Most won't.

Favorite Lyrics

Still in the night, I should be knighted

You pay the member fee but you're still not invited

I get the feeling that you're brain dead

They said I should've stayed dead, but the spotlight, I crave it

You only like me cause I'm famous

Turn up to the drainers, wake up all your neighbours

Had a sickness since the cradle

Leave in the fall like I'm a dead leaf

I lost my memory, but it came back and drenched me

I have a feeling that I'm crazy

I know that they hate me, but they wanna be me

1D

Heard you say you wanna die, so do I

Just do it like Nike, eat the night

Heard you said you wanna play, then it's Fisher Price

Your shoes faker than my smile, not surprised

Nike Just Do It

Slowly lose to decay, lost my hope

Drain Gang and you can't hang with us, need a rope

Blood moon forge a contract when it's signed

Blood pact I wrote you, baby, with a knife

Trash Star, I eat the night, I do it twice

Backstab you out of nowhere, you're surprised

Backstab you, I don't know why you're surprised

God damn, you ain't on shit, why you so hyped?

God damn, I wonder why am I alive

I give myself up to the Red Light

I give myself up to the Red Light

Decay

Broken glass in my hands, you could sell me anything

I walk a mile for your smile, it's embarrassing

I put bleach in my drink, acid in my eyes and shit

I'm feeling paranoid, like the walls is closing in

I can be your skeleton, you can be my vitamin

Hex

You make me feel so blue

I know I'm not perfect but what about you

I know I do wrong but I know you do too

But I feel so worthless standing next to you

Fake News

Do it for you, Amen, never will I love again

I make you fly, raven, lay them to rest again

I call on you fake friend, I been knew that something was strange

I pop a blue, stay sane, I cop a juice, blood red

Ecco2k:

Camboy, keep it softcore

Drinking screwdrivers at the hardware store

Blowtorch on the lock to the back door

Black and Decker force sound like Nightcore

For You

Can't even talk to myself 'cause I'm wrong now

White gate calling me, won't be long now

I can't even put those words in my songs now

Big strong compounds, life force get crossed out

Siren calling, ambulance sound

Drain Gang track you down like a Bloodhound

I can't even trust myself when the night comes

Four doors, red or blue, pick the right one

It's some writing on the wall, it said "die scum"

No heart, but I do wish I had one

And my baby wanna know what I'm scared of

Don't worry, it's been taken care of

Blade, I'm coming for the trash like a trashman

Hell Gang, put that back in the trash can

I can't even trust myself when the night comes

Step on my head twice like a cockroach

Ecco2k:

Every time I close my eyes, I stop existing

Every now and again, I can tell the difference

Woke up falling, I'm still falling off of buildings

Want a new addiction, want to fall victim

Something, you might crush my heart but I'ma risk it

And I'm still sinking, need a curse lifted

Blacklisted at all the clubs, but I can fix this

Think I need stitches, play me three sixes

I wanna see heads roll, execute, past life

Hundred white birds, ninety-nine fall out the sky

Fast life, race against time, it will outrun you

Rains return to the earth, sunlight to the underworld

Maybe in another life we could be lovers

Ever since we met, these thoughts keep getting worse

Iron will, ironed shirt, now I want a Fendi purse

I don't talk with empty words, what is any of it worth

Every time I close my eyes, I go to prison

Every now and again, I can feel the distance

Woke up running, I'm still running through the system

Want a new sickness, want to fall victim

Somewhere, someone broke your heart but I'ma fix it

And I'm still wishing for that first kiss

Get blacklisted at all the clubs in seven sisters

Industry children play with three sixes

Obedient

Can't hang with a peon, things you do to me, making me wrong

I'm bleeding heavily, you're my injury

Execution, get on my knees

Give me something, please, give me what I need

Show me something real

That Thing You Do

I'm the winner but I feel like a victim

Graduated from the situation, found a solution

I had ups and downs but it's falling into place

Like the love from God when you look me in my face

I had dreams of life that were lost in empty space

I had almost drowned if I didn't fuck with that drain

I had four, five strikes, at the sixth I lost my ways

I'm the puppeteer, put my puppets into play

Wanted to be real, wanted to be real

Wanted to be real

Puppetmaster

Put a pill in a McFlurry, I'm goofy

Shoot me, I can feel the cameras it's a movie

I'ma take a moment for my mind, we used to be tight

I go even deeper in the night, I'ma read my rights

I don't wanna open what you write, in another life

I get in my feelings like a knife, my heart's bleeding out

I have tears inside and I don't even know how to cry

But it's giving me a drive, I just go on with my life

Tell me why you do me like you do, you don't need to lie

I'ma paint a smile, it's a disguise, I finesse you twice

I'm Goofy

Conclusion

What are your thoughts on Bladee?

Did you enjoy the album, or did it at least make you think something even if you hated it?

How do you feel about Bladee's singing and autotune usage?

How much of a literal angel is Bladee? Is he one of the best and most innovative artists out right now?

What are your feelings towards Whitearmor's production style?

How how much of an influence has Bladee and co. had on the rap game?

How do you feel about the about album overall?

submitted by /u/ElloJelloMellow
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Lil Uzi Vert says he’s done with music

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 04:02 PM PST

It's on his Instagram story, I got a screenshot uploading to imgur real quick hold on

UPDATE: lmao sorry imgur banned my last account for some reason here's the screenshot

submitted by /u/RainingBranden
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Lil Wayne Tells a Story About a Groupie Who Tried to Move In His House(3:42 min video)

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 05:54 AM PST

Childish Gambino - Toxic (feat. Danny Brown)

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 07:55 AM PST

ZChronik goes to prison after slashing a mans face, then releasing a song titled "Slash Yo Face"

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 08:17 PM PST

[FRESH ALBUM] Retch - Richer Than the Opps

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 11:29 AM PST

[FRESH VIDEO] Nas - Everything

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 09:08 AM PST

Openly gay Puerto Rican rapper Kevin Fret shot dead aged 24

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 12:19 AM PST

milo - A Day Trip to the Nightosphere (feat. Anderson .Paak)

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 02:40 PM PST

THEY. - U-RITE

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 12:16 PM PST

Big K.R.I.T - Country Niggas Anonymous (Freestyle)

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 02:51 PM PST

Choker announces three new projects

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 08:30 PM PST

The whole thing is called Filling Space

Part 1: January 25

Part 2: February 1st

Part 3: February 8th

link to announcement

submitted by /u/Matt8910
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A Tribe Called Quest - Scenario (Music Video)

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 08:33 PM PST

[FRESH] KXNG CROOKED - Halfway Me

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 02:27 PM PST

ASAP ROCKY - Full Video of Babushka Live From Toronto

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 10:26 PM PST

(it won't let me link it or post as vid so here's the link to the youtube video)

https://youtu.be/5f-n-iO7xh8

submitted by /u/billyjoe1738
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Daily Discussion Thread 01/11/2019

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 09:54 AM PST

Welcome to the /r/hiphopheads daily discussion thread!

This thread is for:

  • objective questions with right/wrong answers (e.g. "Does anyone know what is happening with MIXTAPE?", "What is the sample in SONG?")
  • general hip-hop discussion
  • meta posts...e.g. ideas for the sub

Thread Guidelines

  • Do not create a separate self post for these types of discussions outside of this thread - if you do, your post will be removed, as stated in the guidelines.

  • Please be helpful and friendly.

  • If a question has been asked many times before, provide a link to a thread that contains the answer.

Weekly/Monthly Threads

Other ways to interact

There are a number of other ways to interact with other members of HHH:

New to /r/hiphopheads or hip-hop in general?

Check out these:

submitted by /u/ModsLittleHelper
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Experiencing Dreamville's Rap Camp Through the Lens of Chase Fade

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 10:22 AM PST

Joe Budden Scrutinized Over Statements About His Domestic Violence Allegations

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 07:47 AM PST

$uicideboy$ - Now I’m Up To My Neck With Offers

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 08:26 PM PST

[LEAK] Masta Ace feat. Evidence - Eat (prod. by Dj Premier)

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 01:54 PM PST

Leakaveli - Let The White Kids Say Nigga

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 10:03 PM PST

Lil Durk - Decline Ft. Chief Keef (Prod. By Young Chop)

Posted: 11 Jan 2019 09:39 PM PST
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