Browsing Tag

Cloud Rap

Unique M.D. wants us to hear his ‘Last Words’

Posted on 20 April 2021

Opening with some delicious violin and piano, Unique M.D.s ‘Last Words’ is a slow, chilled, but powerful slice of old-school Hip Hop telling the story of the end of a relationship, M.D.’s flow tripping over the 808 hi-hats and laid-back bassline, all early-Eminem and Dre.

Following up his earlier singles ‘Let’s Take a Trip’ and ‘First Date’, ‘Last Words’ bookends the relationship with this breakup story, the American rapper’s prolific back-catalogue showcases his style; with ‘Last Words’, M.D.’s made an easy, relaxed-feel track that still has a potent lyrical message.

You can check out ‘Last Words’ on Soundcloud now, and follow Unique M.D. on Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Hranrad shows us the pinnacle of alt ambient electro pop with his standout track, ‘Misdemeanor’

Posted on 20 April 2021

Berlin-based artist Hranrad’s standout track, Misdemeanour, taken from his EP, Persona, is ambient aural experimentation at its finest. The self-described ‘genre-curious bedchamber producer’ was just as eccentrically playful with Misdemeanour as he was with his bio.

The delicate tapestry of contrasting and complementary tones is unapologetically authentic, not just in terms of sonic originality, you’ll truly get a sense that the notion of pretences was a million miles away from this tender and expressively honest track. We hope to hear plenty more of his haunting yet comforting melodies in 2021 and beyond.

Misdemeanour is available to stream with the rest of Hranrad’s debut EP, Persona, via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

MASSIVESAD explores the grey areas in mental health conversations with ‘Make This Real’

Posted on 18 April 2021

No artist can pull the art out of melancholy quite like Florida-residing indie-pop artist MASSIVESAD. His latest release, ‘Make This Real’, is just as evocatively astute as his previous releases, but this time, he brought his cinematic dream-pop sound to an ethereal new level.

Make This Real is another addition to MASSIVESAD’s forthcoming concept album that experiments with spoken word confessions between psychedelically ambient soundscapes. His sound may constantly be in-flux, but MASSIVESAD always succeeds in leading you to a state of mind where you’re open to suggestibility. Through his art, he asks difficult yet essential questions about the human experience; with Make This Real, he explores how we deal with our mental health and the mental health of those around us.

We all know that reaching out is the best thing to do when you’re feeling low and the right thing to do is support others who are struggling, but what about the grey areas? The grey areas which tell us to take individual responsibility and to remain the pillar of strength and leave us inclined to avoid the infectious ennui of others to maintain our own sanity.

Make This Real is now available to stream via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

SixPortalz shows us the melodic potential of cloud rap with their latest release, ‘YOUNG LUV’.

Posted on 18 April 2021

‘Heartfealt’ isn’t an adjective easily affixed to cloud rap, but East Stroudsberg-based artist, SIxPortalz left us with few other ways to allude to the evocative and all-baring nature of his latest single, ‘YOUNG LUV’.

With melodic piano keys introducing the track and still running between the 808s through the verses, YOUNG LUV possesses all of the rhythmic pull of a sad pop ballad, but there’s no compromise to the raw and honest nature of the lyrics and the delivery. He’s set the bar for emo rap artists with his soulfully bruising approach.

You can check out the official video to YOUNG LUV for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

As days get dark, 9URIE brings relatable comfort with ‘Barely Alive’.

Posted on 16 April 2021

At 18-years-old, Swedish producer and singer-songwriter 9URIE already has seven years of experience in creating music; his latest single, ‘Barely Alive’, shows just how much he has honed-in on his skills.

Barely Alive perfectly alludes to the mentality of feeling nothing but ennui as dark thoughts spill through your consciousness, but there’s still that spark of life residing within that assures you that there’s something worth fighting for.

It almost feels ironic that I stumbled across 9URIE’s latest release on Chester Bennington’s birthday. A lot may have happened musically since Hybrid Theory, but 9URIE’s grippingly dark hip hop release carries a candle for it and parallels the level of emotion. It’s honest and raw tracks such as this that open up the conversation around mental health and depression. 9URIE is definitely one to watch.

You can check out Barely Alive for yourselves by heading over to Spotify or SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Nicky L merges old school with new wave in his sophomore single ‘Curtains Closed’

Posted on 14 April 2021

New York-born hip hop artist Nicky L’s music journey may have started with the influence of Eminem, The Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac and Nas, but for their latest release, Curtains Closed, they drew in the stylings of XXXTENTACION and Juice WRLD to offer a unique combination of old school and new wave.

The track perfectly captures the bitterness of those young love catastrophes where you can tell that it will be a disaster from the start, but something forces you down that path all the same. It follows on from their debut release, ‘Little City Freestyle’, which served as the perfect introduction to Nicky L’s style where lyrically, he lays it all down on the line and through his delivery, you can hear their determination to join the ranks of NYC hip hop greats. Based on Curtains Closed, it seems likely.

Curtains Closed is available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sionis wants to take us ‘Swimming’

Posted on 10 April 2021

Sionis is a 21-year-old musician from Charlotte, North Carolina, with a back history of pop-punk mixed with hip hop and rap. ‘Swimming’ comes by way of artists like Mobb Deep, Havoc, Screwball, or Tyler The Creator. Lyrically, it’s all about a previous girlfriend, and it’s clear that that relationship didn’t always go as well as it might have, with lines like ‘if we fuck then you can scratch me ‘til I bleed/ then I’ll choke you out to gain more energy’ and ‘back and forth, back and forth/ the passive-aggressiveness, I’m sick of it’, but Sionis has some pretty smooth flow mixed with the classic T-Pain autotune vocal production. There’s a solid backing of beats, bass, and piano that bounces the track along in a chilled way, but there’s an underlying anger and aggression here too that fits the vocal message.

You can hear ‘Swimming’ on Soundcloud, and check out Sionis on Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Apollo4K brings an air of gravitas to the trap genre with their latest release ‘Land of the Realist’

Posted on 25 March 2021

West African, Australia-residing trap artist, Apollo4K’s, latest track ‘Land of the Realist’ hooks you in from the first bass-drenched beat. With the ability to contort electronic effects to alchemic effect, Apollo4K brings a brand-new hype to new wave trap.

The rolling rhythms create the perfect platform for Apollo4K’s bars to find synergy with, and as you can probably guess from the title, his lyricism goes deeper than most. Land of the Realist is an absorbing exhibition of the artist’s gritty gravitas and commercial potential.

Land of the Realist is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tea Sea mixes up a big pot of groove on new single ‘Vitals’

Posted on 23 March 2021

Taking a set of playful, poetic lyrics and mixing them up with a watertight groove and bounce, and a chunk of metaphor-heavy imagery, and deliver it all with a non-stop energy and flow, and you’ve pretty much got the recipe for this serving of tea (sea). ‘Vitals’ is a tale of lost-love set to an R&B-tinged hip hop backbeat, equal parts Kendrick Lamar, XXXTentacion, Childish Gambino, and The Weekend.

There’s elements of old-school heroes in here too – Biggie, Dre, Mos Def, and Eminem all feature in Tea Sea’s quickfire wordplay, while there’s elements of soul and eighties street hip hop in the backing beats.

With an official video/visualiser steeped (geddit?) in eighties video effects and 8-bit arcade game visuals, Tea Sea brings us a nice little slice of retro-modern here in ‘Vitals’.

Check out the video for ‘Vitals’ on YouTube; follow Tea Sea on Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

nimonamo delivered a warning in their latest trap track ‘Don’t Waste Time’

Posted on 12 March 2021
https://soundcloud.com/nimonamo/dont-waste-time

Up and coming hip hop artist, nimonamo made their debut in January 2021, they’ve been prolific with their releases ever since. Don’t Waste Time is the fourth single to drop and it’s the best introduction to nimonamo’s melodic trappy style so far.

Soft layers of electronic effect navigate their way around the solid beats laid down by the 808s, creating an inventively textured platform for the vocals which bring nuances of mumble rap into the soundscape – which is no bad thing – but the atmosphere in Don’t Waste Time indicates that nimonamo is an artist with plenty to say, we’d love to get a more potent shot of their introspection in their future releases.

You can check out Don’t Waste Time for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast