Browsing Tag

Alt Hip Hop

Nlsderrixk*! has released his vindicatingly infectious hip hop track, Aint My Fault

Posted on 24 February 2022

The luminary hip hop artist, Nlsderrixk*!, has exonerated himself in his latest single, Aint My Fault, which fuses the new wave with the old school, creating universal appeal to hip hop fans in the process. With justxrolo at the mixing desk, Aint My Fault is as gritty as it is lush with luxe style.

The jazzy noir effects atop the bassy boom-bap beats create a solid platform for Nlsderrixk*!’s playfully dominant rap bars that carry all of the personality of Jay Z and all of the edge of Ghostface Killah.

It isn’t every day that you come across an up and coming hip hop artist that pours this much energy into their tracks; if you are serious about keeping posted on the hottest talent, save a spot on your radar.

Aint My Fault is now available to stream on Soundcloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Slow down to L!FE’s meditatively high vibe hip hop single, Take Your Time

Posted on 24 February 2022

On February 18th, the Philippines-hailing alt-hip hop artist L!FE released his most introspectively sweet single to date. Take Your Time instantly affirms that the up and coming artist’s sphere of influence stretches far past hip hop with the prominence of the piano melodies in the lo-fi mix and his hooky vocals which canter through the invaluable wisdom bombs. It takes an insane amount of humility to admit, “I’ve been doing it wrong in all of my songs”; from that point onwards, you greet his vulnerability with your own as you drink in the sound of birds chirping around the lush sun-bleached reverb.

With the chorus “take your time, you don’t want this to go away”, the damage that hustler hip hop has done on the psyche is instantly reversed. In essence, the track delivers a reminder that your worth can’t be reflected by your bank account and there is infinitely more to life than chasing status. It is all too easy to get onto the same zen prophetic page as L!FE, who started producing beats in 2017 before releasing his debut single in 2020. Fast forward to 2022, L!FE has seven stellar singles under his belt; it is only a matter of time before the rest of the world is as infatuated as we are.

Here is what L!FE had to say on Take Your Time

“Take Your Time is for everyone in the same situation as me, who feels driven towards their success and leaves themselves at risk of burnout. In this day and age, “motivational speakers” drive us towards it and away from our passion.

The track counteracts their holier than thou tropes while reminding the listener that we’re not one-dimensional beings, we deal with a great number of things in our lives, and sometimes, for things to work in our favour, we need time.”

Take Your Time is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Hip Hop icon in the making, Na8 has delivered his cinematically colossal debut LP, Past Present Future

Posted on 22 February 2022

The Nigeria-born, Nashville-based hip hop icon in the making, Na8, is fresh from the release of his debut album, Past Present Future, which recounts experience and introspection from the past, meditates on the present and rewrites the rules for the future.

The LP starts with the colossal hip hop anthem, Pisces, which drip feeds all of the glamour of Jay Z and all of the dark and chaotic flare of Saul Williams before Na8 moves with an old school style of noir soul in the following track, All In, which features some of the best earworm hooks on the LP. Track 3, Exotic Love, feeds the Lauryn Hill vibes, but Na8 made the soundscape his own with his massive production style that is quickly becoming his signature.

Track 5, Cash, stands as a testament to Na8’s experimental instrumental style; from harsh-rock guitar licks to orchestral strings to hard-hitting electronica, you will find all that and more in the hard-hitting hustler hip hop track. In track 11, Bond City, Na8 proves how well his panoramically cinematic production style melds with the definitively-luxe Bond film OSTs. It’s not every day we hear radio-ready hip hop. The fact that Na8 delivered it in his debut LP speaks volumes of his talent. Get him on your radar.

Here’s what Na8 had to say about his debut LP:

“My debut looks back on my life in Africa and Europe before I arrived in the USA. I wanted to express my past, present, and what my future could be in music.

The main message is that your past or present doesn’t define you. If you know what you want in life, you can focus and achieve those goals. Stay true to yourself.”

Past Present Future is now available to stream on Spotify.

Connect with Na8 on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Zoplo has made his hooky alt-hip hop debut with Gimme Ur Love

Posted on 8 February 2022

For his hooky alt-hip hop debut, Gimmie Ur Love, the instantly trailblazing Toronto-hailing artist, Zoplo, teamed up with P.A.X.O. and Ryder Ross. The bitey yet sardonically sweet track doesn’t hang around before it starts to work its charm with the choppy piano keys and enigmatic rap bars that break into harmonic pop vocals in the chorus. Gimmie Ur Love finds the perfect balance of relatable content and playful expression, making sure the track hits hard without sending you completely under.

Gimmie Ur Love unfolds as the best possible introduction to the 25-year-old blind and queer hip hop artist and activist that seeks to diversify the current discourse with his narrative of navigating disability, intergenerational trauma and institutionalization. So far, his career highlights include opening for Tech N9ne, Yung Lean and Riff Raff. Based on the infectious gravity in Gimme Ur Love, it’s only a matter of time before he’s headlining the major stages. Watch this space.

Gimme Ur Love is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The future of hip hop arrived in Gud Cyrus’ spacey electro debut album, Until Next Time.

Posted on 5 February 2022

Mississauga, ON-hailing artist and songwriter Gud Cyrus is fresh from the release of his dynamic hotly-anticipated debut album, Until Next Time. For new fans, the standout single, Anomaly, is the best introduction to Cyrus’ evocatively spacey signature style that hasn’t failed to attract international attention.

After an ethereal prelude that feels like it has just crawled out of a David Lynch film (in the best possible way), Anomaly starts to unravel as an intriguingly experimental feat of urban ingenuity. Anomaly takes the evolution of hip hop one step further into the future with the glitchy and scattered effects that would be jarring if the grooves in the track didn’t cut so deep.

Gud Cyrus’ album is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

X-Man speaks for the outliers in his pioneeringly impassioned alt-hip hop single, Can’t Relate

Posted on 5 February 2022

If X-Man goes down in hip hop history as anything less than a pioneer, we haven’t done him enough justice. Immersive may be a word that gets bound around in music reviews, but there are few other ways to allude to the allure of the hooks in his recently released seminal single, Can’t Relate.

X-Man makes it easy for you to instantly find the groove in the smooth canter of the almost spoken-word rap bars that are just as magnetic as Snoop Dogg’s. When it comes to the beats, X-Man cooked up a concoction of hip hop and playfully melodic video-game-style electronica. With the harsh snares snapping against the dreamy beats, there is plenty of texture to sink into as X-Man makes being unrelatable relatable.

You can check out Can’t Relate for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Yung Rager stayed true to his moniker in his juggernaut of a glitch wave hip hop track, Bubonic

Posted on 4 February 2022

Yung Rager’s moniker makes immediate sense when you hit play on the chaotically glitchy alt-hip hop single, Bubonic. In the stormer of a track, glitch wave, harsh electronica, and indie hip hop collide to tumultuous and galvanising effect.

It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Bubonic is so much more than a mash of fiery rap bars and vocals and chaotic electronic sequences. The hook-filled track reels you in from the intro and keeps you transfixed in the moody and harsh progressions. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more cathartically volatile new release in 2022. Affix Yung Rager firmly to your radar.

Bubonic is just one of the tracks that feature on Yung Ranger’s brand-new EP, Pain Prohibits Love, that will drop on January 28th, 2022. It is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Current shows us the meaning of conviction in his latest alt-hip hop single Under Pressure featuring STBtheDon

Posted on 1 February 2022

For his latest emotional firestorm of a release, Under Pressure, the breaking rapper, singer, producer and DJ, Current teamed up with the equally as luminary artist, STBtheDon. The Birmingham, Alabama-born, Kansas City-based artist has spent the last eight years fine-tuning his authentic sonic signature that includes elements of Lo-Fi, hip hop, electronica and RnB – and it certainly shows in Under Pressure.

For new fans, Under Pressure, is the perfect introduction to Current’s experimental production style. The track explores the pressure we feel from people’s expectations. The conviction in the track is the ultimate proof that pressure is even harder to bear when the expectation is for us to fail. For anyone who knows how exhausting yet vindicating it is to succeed despite condescending cynicism, there’s almost an infinite amount of resonance. Lyrically, each verse hits harder than the last. By the outro, you won’t fail to be blown away by the full-frontal emotion.

Under Pressure was released on January 21st, 2022; you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bryana Arlette – More Life: Cathartically Intimate RnB Hip Hop

Posted on 31 January 2022

If you let one of the most evocatively hard-hitting hip hop songs that dropped in 2021 slip you by, we’re giving you a second chance to slip into the arrestingly raw single, More Life, by the Ohio-born, LA-based independent artist, Bryana Arlette.

Through her music, she shines a melodic light on the experiences that shaped her and sank her into a silent depression. Her vision as an artist is bed by the hope of connecting with fans that have lived through similar experiences or worse. As much as she deserves to be applauded based on her candid bravery, her sound is equally as breathtaking. Her composed and neo-classic spin on RnB-laced hip hop amplifies the emotion in the lyrics while simultaneously creating a cathartically intimate urban atmosphere. We can’t wait to hear what follows.

More Life is available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

TutTheKing broke new urban ground with his dynamic flows in the alt-hip hop earworm, ‘Forged’

Posted on 26 January 2022

Plenty of new hip hop artists have moved into the ever-evolving urban space in recent years, but few did it with quite as much flair as the 23-year-old Egyptian songwriter and sound designer TutTheKing (Nour Rakha). His recently released 2022 single, Forged, is the perfect introduction to his dynamic flows, infectious attitude and experimental sound.

With an intro that isn’t a million sonic miles away from the one that brings in My Chemical Romance’s track, You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison, it is safe to say that TutTheKing that is doing just as much for the obliteration of genre boundaries as Yungblud, Travis Barker and Machine Gun Kelly. The edgy-in-spite-of-being-high-vibe track is a rollercoaster through the artists refreshing luminary talent. He doesn’t stop at breaking genre boundaries. He also fuses his Egyptian roots with a little SoCal hip hop for the ultimate galvanising and refreshing effect.

The official video for Forged is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast