Browsing Tag

Alt Hip Hop

MUNBOI walks us down Memory Ln. in his latest stoically philosophical hip-hop aural installation

Posted on 23 September 2022

With his philosophy-laced rap flows, the UK alternative artist MUNBOI is becoming one that an increasing number of fans turn to for stoic poetry. Fresh from the release of his 12-track debut album, EUDAIMONIA, the producer, engineer, and artist is well on the way to the 1-million streams club.

The standout single, Memory Ln. unfurls as an intricate organic amalgam of hip hop, pop, RnB, and experimental sonic textures while MUNBOI looks to the past for answers in the present. His vocal energy truly becomes the epitome of stoicism as he twists common tropes to deliver lyrical sanctity through lines such as “I was sitting on the edge, I just needed a little push”, and “nothing really matters so we be risking it all now”.  Update your chill indie playlists accordingly.

His debut album EUDAIMONIA is now available to stream in full on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Steph Delz took urban Avant Garde to the extreme with ‘Lockjaw’

Posted on 6 September 2022

LA’s Steph Delz put the trip in trip-hop in his latest experimental track, Lockjaw; it isn’t music as we have known it before, but any fans of extreme urban Avant Garde will want to pay attention.

He’s a ghost in the machine in the hyper-warped 8-Bit production, which may be a little too out-there for most Trap fans, but the up and coming artist and producer has certainly carved himself an autonomous niche in the market; in 2022, that’s an achievement in itself.

Lockjaw was officially released on September 19th; it is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Zackwa is on his own experimental plateau in ‘All Praise and Glory’

Posted on 6 September 2022

With the fluid transitions between the Prince-Esque vocalised harmonies and the blazing rap bars that are just as convictive as RZA’s, Zackwa’s latest single, All Praise and Glory transcends the constrictive nature of genre boundaries. That is before you account for the experimental accordance in the ambient electronica meets new age hip hop instrumentals.

Zackwa strives to rise above the mundane energy of the world, and it’s safe to say he is not only in another league. He is operating from a new dynamic plateau, constructed by his autonomy and inclination to verse introspective gold into the strained atmosphere of the 21st century.

Check out the lyric video for All Praise and Glory on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hollowway is ‘Fired Up’ in his latest alt EDM hip hop hard hitter

Posted on 27 August 2022
https://youtu.be/kNj0hx-kKdA

Before any up-and-coming hip hop artist claims to have dynamic rap bars, they should introduce themselves to the artist that has become the epitome of lyrical dynamism, Hollowway. The alt-hip hop artist is fresh from the release of his blazing track, Fired Up, which officially dropped on August 13th.

The pace of the delivery in the snappy EDM hip hop track is one thing, the razor-sharp wit relayed through the hook-ishly snarky bars is completely another, as is the ability to connect to his riled-up energy. After Mindless Self Indulgence fell from grace, I can’t think of a better newcomer capable of taking their angsty place on the airwaves.

Check out the lyric video to Fired Up on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Young Swavey lit a fire with his fervent rap track, BAPE

Posted on 22 August 2022

With his seminal single, BAPE, hip hop artist Young Swavey lit a fire with his fervent rap bars that blaze across the trappy, slightly psychedelic indie instrumentals.

The up-and-coming artist professes to make his own way in the music industry, and BAPE affirms it. Any and all reminiscences to hip hop icons and contemporaries are extremely fleeting in the short and immersively sweet track, which is fresh enough to take Young Swavey up from the underground. There is plenty of personality written between the convictive lines that almost flow with freestyle energy. Get in on the hype.

Check out the official music video for BAPE on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

A Milli speaks for us all in his seminal alt-hip hop single, Crazy

Posted on 17 August 2022

After an intro of warmly saturated indie guitars, A Milli’s seminal alt-hip hop single, Crazy, grooves into a cuttingly resonant admission of fear over losing your grip on reality. It is ironic when you think about it, considering that being in touch with reality is the sole reason for the global mental health epidemic.

As Jack Kerouac famously said, “the only ones for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved”; that sentiment definitively stood for me while Crazy was running through.

The Ontario-born artist is one of the few left that recognises the true roots of all genres; preservation of our history. In Crazy, the independent artist and audio engineer held himself accountable by extending positive vibes only after melodically laying it all down on the line.

Hear Crazy for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Orval Hill and Lita Lee became the ultimate dark hip hop power couple in ‘Dark Vibez’.

Posted on 10 August 2022

While everyone else is going high with their vibes, Orval Hill went dark with his rhythmic masterpiece, Dark Vibez, featuring the iconic rapper in her own right, Lita Lee. Together, the duo is as electric as Die Antwoord, but thankfully infinitely less problematic, despite the ‘schizo rap’ style which has come to define Orval Hill’s moody sonic style and playfully twisted lyrics.

With ethereal reverb snaking around the steady rattle of the 808s, there’s a phantasmal avant-garde essence to Dark Vibez, which you may be able to hear if you can tear yourself away with the hypnotic bounce of the rap bars. Honestly, if you can hit still through it, you may as well be in a coma.

The official music video for Dark Vibez premiered on July 30th. Check it out on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

King Cooley gave us the ultimate hip hop earworm to ‘Get Down’ to after going viral with her seminal single.

Posted on 4 August 2022

After her seminal single Climate Change garnered over 280,000 streams and was added to multiple official Spotify playlists, hip hop’s fieriest newcomer, King Cooley, is set to release her latest soulful stormer, Get Down.

The Atlanta, Georgia-based artist seamlessly switches between her simmering hell hath no fury rap bars and her neo-soul-to-the-bone vocal harmonies on top of the beats that prove King Cooley has what takes to bring in the freshest new wave of hip hop.

With experimental electronic signatures in place of the usual archetypal 808 rattle, not a million worlds away from the indietronica beats from Warpaint, it is hard not to admire the lengths King Cooley went to with Get Down. She’s finishing what Eilish started.

Get Down will officially release on August 12th; hear it here.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Los Alva bares his introspective soul in the poetry and vibe-driven alt-hip hop single, SLDN

Posted on 27 July 2022

So far in his career, every release has been an emotionally complex blend of heavy lyrics and upbeat instrumentals to take some of the weight of the introspection away. Los Alva’s latest single, SLDN, which reached the airwaves in June 2022, is another blister of balanced resonance.

With his modernistic RnB vocals riding on the bass of the Afrobeat-inspired hip hop beats, SLDN stirs the soul as much as it speaks to it with the lyricism that does more than border on poetry. It climbs right into bed with it to tear away the boundary between rap and poetry.

While some lyricists let their ego and determination to write hits allow the pen to hit paper, Los Alva is evidently perpetually soulfully inspired.

SLDN is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Felicia became the ultimate nu-metal domme by subjugating Boris Johnson in her latest music video, Revolution Business

Posted on 20 July 2022

Even though Boris Johnson does a pretty good job of humiliating himself (and the rest of us while he’s shambolically at it), it was still beyond cathartic to see Felicia sonically flaying him in her latest seductively rebellious nu metal music video, Revolution Business.

It deserves to go just as viral as the video shot by a bewilderedly unsuspecting passer-by when they stumbled on the scene of Felicia dominating Boris Johnson in the market town of Grantham.

The video, (available to view here) has now garnered over 380,000 streams on Facebook, but what is infinitely less measurable is the true impact of the video, which provided a brief reprieve from the existential weight imposed by the futility of faith in our democracy.

How many iterations of “we need a revolution” have you heard recently? Well, now we have the start of one, and Bradford’s most creative antagonist inarguably became one of the most iconic contemporary mononym-toting artists in the process.

The pop-bitten track that instrumentally highjacks your rhythmic pulses through the juggernaut of a cadence keeps on giving. From her originated demurely rapped mischievousness to the screamo lyrical hook “fuck the music business, this is revolution business”, which made her the ultimate metal domme, it is frenetic socialist perfection. My Ruin will never hit the same again.

Fund the revolution by purchasing the track on Bandcamp or check out the official music video via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast