The internet has all but crashed thanks to the hotly-anticipated Meg and Cardi collaboration "WAP."
Another surprise collaboration from The Weeknd and the late Juice WRLD threatens to do the same, but closer inspection on this New Music Friday will reap a handful of magnetic new projects that deserve an equal amount of attention. Aminé returns with his most mature project in years, and GASHI shows us a new side to his artistry as he infuses '80s pop music with his hip-hop sensibilities. For those pining for new projects to sink their teeth into, here are some of today's overlooked gems that deserve a listen.
Limbo
Aminé has been forced to grow up recently. The bright charisma of "Caroline" and "Spice Girl" that became the Oregon rapper's calling card back in 2017 is nowhere to be found on Aminé's "Sophomore-ish" album Limbo, and how could it be? The death of Kobe Bryant has polluted Aminé's view on life, among other tragedies this year. In a brief interlude, comedian Jak Knight recalls that a part of his childhood died when Kobe did, that he felt his innocence had been lost at that moment. "You was like a dad [to me]," Amine raps emboldened on "Woodlawn."
At 26 years old, Aminé can feel his life is at a turning point and uses Limbo's slick production to ruminate on his mortality. "Bury me before I'm a burden," he says with an eerie charisma, channeling Ol' Dirty Bastard's neurotic confidence at more than one moment throughout the project. "When your skin darker, sh*t get's harder."
He reminisces on his car rides to school with a nostalgic fondness ("Mama") and is newly disgruntled by the mall and consumerist society, and is now painfully aware of the "looks [he] gets in restaurants": "I'm fed up with a world that I know I can't change" ("Becky").
The boiled over frustration is palpable and makes for an invigorating listen, but Limbo doesn't resolve any of the conflicts it brings up; maybe that's because right now, it doesn't feel like a resolution even exists. How can you even begin to try and fix what's been broken for generations? "I'm tired, so this ain't worth the risk," he says, disheartened on "Becky." Aminé knows that to exist, even in limbo, is exhausting.
Top Shotta
At just 17 years old, Memphis newcomer NLE Choppa has been engrossed in violence for as long as he can remember. On his debut album, Top Shotta, he ruminates on it, festering in the trauma that has plagued his mind in the hopes to rid himself of it. "I'm shadowed by my past, I just want the sun to shine on me," he says on "Double Bacc."
With all his graphic depictions of violence, he doesn't once glorify it, instead presenting everything with a matured callousness. "I don't fantasize, them bodies in my mind, and I can't stop," he says frankly on "Murda Talk." "Music is a way of therapy," Choppa recently told Adam22. "I use it to express how I feel."
But he's painfully aware that his lifestyle will only end in tragedy ("Narrow Road"), even as he often tries to discern right from wrong and move in the right direction. In the closer, "Depression," NLE's ferocious bars are replaced by soft crooning, with the young rapper acknowledging that this carnage has left him scared and alone. "I just wanna be left in my room with microphones," he says.
The stark moment of vulnerability could represent a turning point for the rapper. Maybe he can finally leave the gunplay behind; but at this point, the opposition is strong, so it doesn't really sound like it's up to him: "It's my life or yours?... I'm gon' let me decide."
1984
It's impossible to define what GASHI is. The Libyan rapper and singer has always transcended what people thought he'd become—on 1984, his infusion of rap with '80s pop soundscapes make it even more impossible. 1984, with its lush instrumentals and sleek '80s synths, certifies GASHI as a budding pop star rather than just another rapper.
He enlists the help of Sting, Pink $weats, and Devault to solidify this transition, but it shouldn't come as a surprise. This is the same artist who, as a kid, made money by performing Michael Jackson moves on the street and who regularly refers to himself as the "Trap Phil Collins."
But 1984 isn't a mere '80s copycat project, and it isn't as overly verbose as GASHI's past offerings have been. It's laser-focused and wholly authentic to the complex identity of the artist behind it. "Mr. Ferrari" is perhaps the best example of this, with its slap-stick beat and hip-hop flourishes that make it suitable for the closing credits of a Back to The Future remake. GASHI is an uncanny talent who is finally finding his footing in a crowded genre, and it's a beautiful thing.
Trapped On Cleveland 3
While at one moment unable to escape from Young Thug's shadow, Lil Keed set out to make Trapped On Cleveland 3 his most personal, individualized record ever. The project was released alongside an accompanying short film, which Keed insists you watch before diving into the music. The film adds a transparent behind-the-scenes look at Lil Keed's life, in the hopes that we can finally stop seeing him as Thugga's sidekick.
While the album, of course, features his mentor, Lil Keed is unrecognizable from his past work. He bounces with a squeaky, youthful vigor on "Tighten Up," and on "Heartbreaker" he transitions flawlessly into Juice WRLD-infused pop music.
Lil Keed proves to be a man of many talents, and Trapped On Cleveland 3 assures us that we'll never confuse him with his mumble rap counterparts ever again.
Juice WRLD's posthumous release, Legends Never Die, has already sold over 400,000 copies, putting it in the running for the biggest release of 2020.
Meanwhile, Summer Walker confidently returns with a sleek new E.P., Kid Cudi and Marshall Mathers unite for the first time, James Blake quietly dropped a shadowy new track, and H.E.R. added a splash of reggae flavor to her new track "Do To Me." While it was a big week for the mainstream, it was equally as massive for the underground. Upcoming mumble emcee SahBabii's released an infectious collection of wavy, levitative hip-hop, and the iconic Fresh Veggies duo of Casey Veggies and Rockie Fresh return for their second outing. Check out the latest underground releases below.
ATL rapper UnoTheActivist announces his arrival with his debut album, 8. During the project's light-hearted 47-minutes, Uno hones his slick singsong raps and puts forth his most enunciated and commercial collection yet. The cousin to Playboi Carti bounces along with Young Thug-inspired playfulness as he tells us about his day-to-day living. "I think I'm gonna take a walk to the bank today," Uno murmurs to himself on "Ew."
His shrewd observations are endearing, albeit perfunctory. "I like how you lookin' over there; you know what I'm saying?" Uno says with the utmost confidence. "Real scrump-diddly-umptious." For those who don't mind Uno's blithe approach, 8 is, at times, incredibly blissful.
Another exuberant new mumble rapper, SahBabii's "Anime World," was one of 2018's most fascinating drops. Elegant, but silly, SahBabii was earnest even when discussing the obscene. The cover art for Barnacles, the rapper's latest project, finds the rapper standing upright in front of a massive sea-shell as Sirens grope him and confirms this Chicago emcee walks to a different kind of beat. "F*ck your crew with a sick d*ck, I hope you n***** catch syphilis," he says with a wide-eyed grin.
While at times crude, SahBabii is never menacing, with Barnacle's misty beats as oscillating as the waves in the open ocean. Interesting flexes abound, and SahBabii somehow makes it all sound so elegant and sexy. He says his jewelry is so bright and "caucasian" that they border on "Donald Trump" level "racist," and he attests that his "meat" smells as good as a "pack of bacon" (on "Racist"). He then somehow turns the anecdote, "We f*ck Giraffe's and Elephants" into a slick hip-hop hook ("Giraffes and Elephants"). Barnacles is one of the oddest releases of 2020, but somehow one of the smoothest.
The iconic duo of Casey Veggies and Rockie Fresh return for a fresh sophomore outing on Fresh Veggies 2. Bouncing along with ease, the duo's chemistry is tight and refined compared to their previous release, with each emcee trading braggadocious bars about fame, wealth, and trying to stay sane through it all. "I'm just out here tryna make the right decisions," Fresh says adamantly on "Sin."
Fresh Veggies' original charisma is instead traded for mature, reflective lyrics, but its sequel is not without its moments of feral energy, with outings like "Murda" and "Hotel Suite" solely dedicated to beating down their rivals.
The latest offering from southern emcee G$ Lil Ronnie takes no prisoners. From the jarring animated artwork to harrowing tales of gun violence and fighting for survival, Gang Gang Activity's third outing is ferocious and unsettling.
The project's tempo is uncompromising, each track driven by thick bass and eerie piano keys. But on rare moments of exhales like "Inner Tube," G$ Lil Ronnie sits back and tells his street fables with grizzly detail, setting himself apart from his southern contemporaries as a premiere hip-hop stylist with a lot to say.
The hit ghostwriter and fluttery vocalist has remained a brewing R&B hitmaker for years now. Each of his albums hits with contagious swagger, and it's unclear why he hasn't broken through into more mainstream circles.
Regardless, the crooner returns with another brooding R&B offering that focuses on his inability to relate and connect with the people around him. It demonstrates the singer's faultless voice and relatable penmanship, as well as an uncanny knack for crafting catchy contemporary R&B.
An invigorating slew of protest music hit the shelves today.
Detroit-based emcee Tee Grizzley collaborated with Queen Naija and the Detroit Youth Choir to craft a melodic ballad that attempts to open up a dialogue with police. Meanwhile, alt-Jazz pioneer Terrace Martin took a different approach in his collaboration with Denzel Curry, Daylyt, G Perico, and Kamasi Washington, with "Pigs Feet" being more of an angry f*ck you than an attempt at communication.
As the George Floyd protests sweep across the nation, an exciting new wave of protest music follows. But current climate aside, there once again remains a slew of underground artists who used this New Music Friday to stay on their grind and release new material. It may undoubtedly be overshadowed by the current moment, but to help shine a light on the hard-working underground of today, here are a few slept on releases that should still be on your radar.
JayDaYoungan
Baby23
Following the birth of his son last night, Louisiana-based trap rapper JayDaYoungan released his debut project Baby23 this morning. One of the most arresting up-and-comers in melodic trap music, JayDaYoungan has been bubbling with potential for years. His interspersion of heart-wrenching vocals with hard-hitting bars is a revitalizing take on the unique "rap-singing" coming out of the south. With Baby23 featuring co-signs from Kevin Gates, Lil Durk, and Moneybagg Yo, the project is Jay's most structurally sound and may soon serve as his ticket to Hip-Hop's upper echelon.
Drakeo the Ruler
Thank You For Using GTL
Recorded entirely from a prison pay-phone, the compelling south-central rapper Drakeo The Ruler linked up with producer JoogSZN to release Thank You for Using GTL. The budding trap rapper has been in and out of prison for a few years now. While acquitted on charges of murder and conspiracy to murder in 2016, he is back behind bars now awaiting trial on charges of criminal gang conspiracy and shooting from a motor vehicle. That hasn't stopped him from crafting a compelling album, with the gargled vocals from his prison pay-phone almost adding a splash of lo-fi. More importantly, Thank You for Using GTL reasserts Drakeo's power on the mic. Even a looming 25-to-life charge can't stress Drakeo out enough to stop him from curating braggadocious trap music. Thank You for Using GTL is the most unique project to come out today.
Sleepy Hallow
Sleepy Hallow Presents: Sleepy For President
Brooklyn emcee Sleepy Hallow is a different type of rapper. He teeters between singing and rapping with such a distinct vibrato; it's hard to notice when he switches it up. On Sleepy Hallow Presents: Sleepy Hallow for President, the underground rapper aims to pave his own lane in the overstuffed NY hip-hop landscape. While Brooklyn drill has consumed the borough, Sleepy Hallow demonstrates his versatility and dabbles in the artform with BK Drill veteran Fivio Foreign. He then quickly switches to moody, melodic trap music on "Nauseous" and "6 am in New York." He's a unique artist with an unprecedented amount of talent that shouldn't be overlooked.
Nicki Blixky
Different Timin'
Dead at just 21-years-old, Brooklyn drill up-and-comer Nicki Blixky was gunned down just last month in his hometown of Brooklyn. He had just started promoting his debut tape, Different Time, which released today, and was starting to make major waves in New York. It's heartbreaking now to hear the lost potential. His gargled vocals echo the grunge of Pop Smoke but with a slightly looser swagger. He was truly on the verge of massive success.
Dreezy
Hard Knoxk Life
Chicago rapper Dreezy has had enough of the nay-sayers. On her latest single, "Hard Knoxk Life," she weaves a tale of danger that polluted her past life before rap stardom. She isn't bitter, but rather reflective of all she's endured to make a name for herself. The offering is brief but is drastically harder than anything she's released before. She has regularly been one of the most slept-on Chicago rappers in recent memory.
The story of psychedelics is intertwined with the story of music, and tracing their relationship can feel like going in circles.
For thousands of years, artists have been using naturally-grown herbs to open their minds and enhance their creative processes. Since LSD was synthesized by Albert Hoffman in 1938, psychedelics have experienced a reemergence, blooming into a revolution in the 1960s, launching dozens of genres and sounds that focused on acid, shrooms, and all of the portals they opened. Around the 1960s, scientists also began studying the relationship between psychedelics and music, and even back then, researchers found that, when combined, music and psychedelics could have therapeutic effects on patients.
More modern studies have discovered that LSD, specifically, links a portion of the brain called the parahippocampal—which specializes in personal memory—to the visual cortex, which means that memories take on more autobiographical and visual dimensions. Other studies have found that LSD can make the timbres and sounds of music feel more meaningful and emotionally powerful. Today, psychedelic music still thrives, and you can hear flickers of those early trip-inspired experiences all across today's modern musical landscape.
"There is a message intrinsically carried in music, and under the effects of psychedelics, people seem to become more responsive to this," said the psychedelic researcher Mendel Kaelen. "Emotion can be processed more deeply. It's a beautiful narrative. It's like a snake biting itself in the tail."
All that said, psychedelics can be as dangerous as the archetypal live-fast-die-young rock and roller's average lifestyle. They can destabilize already fragile minds and can encourage further drug abuse and reckless behavior. Often, psychedelic revolutions have coincided with colonialist fetishizations, apocalyptic visions, and appropriations of Eastern culture.
However, sometimes psychedelics and musical talent can come together in a synergy so perfect that it can literally create transcendent and healing experiences. Hallucinogens affected each of these following musicians in a unique way, but their experiences with hallucinogens produced some of the greatest music of all time.
Harry Styles — She
In his revelatory Rolling Stone profile, Harry Styles spoke out about how magic mushrooms inspired his most recent album, Fine Line. Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the 25-year-old apparently spent a lot of time at Shangri-La Studios in Los Angeles tripping and listening to the old psychedelic greats.
"Ah, yes. Did a lot of mushrooms here," he said in the interview during a tour of the studio. "We'd do mushrooms, lie down on the grass, and listen to Paul McCartney's Ram in the sunshine."
Things even got a little violent, as they often can when dealing with hallucinogens. "This is where I was standing when we were doing mushrooms and I bit off the tip of my tongue. So I was trying to sing with all this blood gushing out of my mouth. So many fond memories, this place," he reminisced affectionately.
Kacey Musgraves' dreamy song "Slow Burn" was apparently inspired by an acid trip. Listening to the lyrics, you can hear the influence of psychedelics twining with country and singer-songwriter tropes. "I was sitting on the porch, you know, having a good, easy, zen time," she said of the songwriting experience, which she said happened out on her porch one evening. "I wrote it down on my phone, and then wrote the songs the next day with a sober mind."
LSD, she said, "opens your mind in a lot of ways. It doesn't have to be scary. People in the professional worlds are using it, and it's starting to become an option for therapy. Isn't that crazy?" Her affection for the drug also appears in her song "Oh What A World," which contains the lyric, "Plants that grow and open your mind."
A$AP Rocky — L$D
While A$AP Rocky's affection for LSD isn't a surprise given his propensity for writing about the drug, apparently the rapper has an intellectual approach to his psychedelic experimentation.
"We was all in London at my spot, Skeppy came through," he told Hot New Hip Hop about his experience writing LSD. "I have this psychedelic professor, he studies in LSD. I had him come through and kinda record and monitor us to actually test the product while being tested on. We did the rhymes all tripping balls."
Apparently his first acid trip happened in 2012. "Okay, without getting anyone in trouble, I was with my homeboy and some trippy celebrity chicks and…" he said in an interview with Time Out. When asked how long it lasted, he said, "Too long, man. Twenty-three hours. I was trippin' till the next day. When I woke up, I was like, Damn! I did that shit! That shit was dope. It was so amazing. It was a-ma-zing. Nothing was like that first time."
Acid changed his entire approach to music and success. "I never really gave a f*ck, man, but this time, I really don't give a f*ck," he said. "I don't care about making no f*cking hits." Instead, he focuses on creating. "It's so hard to be progressive when you're trippin' b*lls," he said. "You make some far-out shit!"
The Beatles' later music is essentially synonymous with LSD, and the band members often spoke out about their unique experiences with the drug. According to Rolling Stone, the first time that Lennon and Harrison took it was actually a complete accident. A friend put LSD in their coffee without their knowledge, and initially Lennon was furious. But after the horror and panic faded, things changed. "I had such an overwhelming feeling of well-being, that there was a God, and I could see him in every blade of grass. It was like gaining hundreds of years of experience in 12 hours," said Harrison.
Paul McCartney had similar revelations. LSD "opened my eyes to the fact that there is a God," he said in 1967. "It is obvious that God isn't in a pill, but it explained the mystery of life. It was truly a religious experience." Of LSD's effect, he also said, "It started to find its way into everything we did, really. It colored our perceptions. I think we started to realize there wasn't as many frontiers as we'd thought there were. And we realized we could break barriers."
Using the drug not only helped the band create some of the most legendary music of all time—it also brought them closer together. "After taking acid together, John and I had a very interesting relationship," said George Harrison. "That I was younger or I was smaller was no longer any kind of embarrassment with John. Paul still says, 'I suppose we looked down on George because he was younger.' That is an illusion people are under. It's nothing to do with how many years old you are, or how big your body is. It's down to what your greater consciousness is and if you can live in harmony with what's going on in creation. John and I spent a lot of time together from then on and I felt closer to him than all the others, right through until his death."
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Ray Charles — My World
The soul music pioneer allegedly once described acid as his "eyes." Charles was blind, but LSD is said to have allowed him some version of sight. Though he struggled with addiction, Charles eventually got clean, though his music always bore some markers of his experiences with the subconscious mind.
Actually, blind people on LSD and hallucinogens can experience hallucinations of different kinds, though it's somewhat rare. According to a study in the journal Consciousness and Cognition, this happens because during a trip, "the plasticity of the nervous system allows the recognition and translation of auditory or tactile patterns into visual experiences."
Clapton struggled with drug abuse throughout his life, and LSD certainly had an influence on him. While he was a part of Cream, he frequently played shows while tripping, and according to outontrip.com, he became "convinced that he could turn the audience into angels or devils according to the notes he played."
Before he was creating the ultimate dad rap, Chance the Rapper was an acidhead.
"None of the songs are really declarative statements; a lot of them are just things that make you wonder...a lot like LSD," said Chance the Rapper of his hallucinogen-inspired album, the aptly named Acid Rap. "[There] was a lot of acid involved in Acid Rap," he told MTV in 2013. "I mean, it wasn't too much — I'd say it was about 30 to 40 percent acid ... more so 30 percent acid."
But the album wasn't merely about acid; like much of the best psychedelic music, it was more about the imagery and symbolism associated with the drug than the actual drug itself. "It wasn't the biggest component at all. It was something that I was really interested in for a long time during the making of the tape, but it's not necessarily a huge faction at all. It was more so just a booster, a bit of fuel. It's an allegory to acid, more so than just a tape about acid," he said.
Jazz great John Coltrane was a regular LSD user who used the drug to create music and to have spiritual experiences. Though he struggled with addiction throughout his life, LSD was one drug that had a major artistic influence on him. While it's not known for sure if the album Om—which includes chanted verses of the Bhagavad Gita—was recorded while Coltrane was on LSD, many rumors theorize that it was.
"Coltrane's LSD experiences confirmed spiritual insights he had already discovered rather than radically changing his perspective," wrote Eric Nisenson in Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest. "After one early acid trip he said, 'I perceived the interrelationship of all life forms,' an idea he had found repeated in many of the books on Eastern theology that he had been reading for years. For Coltrane, who for years had been trying to relate mystical systems such as numerology and astrology, theories of modern physics and mathematics, the teachings of the great spiritual leaders, and advanced musical theory, and trying somehow to pull these threads into something he could play on his horn. The LSD experience gave him visceral evidence that his quest was on the right track."
Jenny Lewis — Acid Tongue
Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis wrote the song "Acid Tongue" about her first and only experience on LSD, which happened when she was fourteen. She told Rolling Stone, "It culminated in a scene not unlike something from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas—the scene where Hunter S. Thompson has to lock the lawyer in the bathroom. I sort of assumed the Hunter S. Thompson character and my friend – she had taken far too much – decided to pull a butcher knife out of the kitchen drawer and chase me around the house… At the end of that experience, my mom was out of town on a trip of her own and she returned to find me about 5 lbs lighter and I had—I was so desperate to get back to normal I decided to drink an entire gallon of orange juice. I saw that it was in the fridge and decided that this would sort of flush the LSD out of my system, but I didn't realize that it did exactly the opposite."
The Beach Boys' mastermind Brian Wilson was famously inspired by psychedelics, which both expanded and endangered his fragile and brilliant mind. After his first acid trip in 1965, an experience that he said "expanded his mind," Wilson wrote "California Gurls." After the trip, however, Wilson began suffering from auditory hallucinations and symptoms of schizophrenia, and though he discontinued use of the drug, he continued to hear voices; doctors eventually diagnosed him with the disease. Wilson later lamented his tragic experiences with LSD, stating that he wished he'd never done the drug.
Though it led Wilson on a downward spiral, LSD inspired some of his band's greatest work—namely the iconic Pet Sounds, which launched half a century of "acid-pop copycats."
The Flaming Lips — Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
The Flaming Lips' "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" is widely believed to be the product of lead singer Wayne Coyne's LSD experimentation. This theory is corroborated by the fact that the album's cover features the number 25 (and LSD is also known as LSD-25). They also frequently reference LSD in their music, which includes an album called Finally, the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid.
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Jimi Hendrix — Voodoo Child
While there is still some general contention on whether Jimi Hendrix hallucinated frequently, nobody really doubts that he did. According to rumors, the legendary musician even used to soak his bandanas in acid before going onstage so the drug would seep through his pores.
According to one source, Hendrix did more than just play music while tripping. He was also an expert at (of all things) the game of Risk.
"Jimi would play Risk on acid, and I never — and me personally — ever beat him at all," said Graham Nash in an interview. "He was unbelievable at it. He was a military man, you know, he's a paratrooper, and I don't know whether you know that about Jimi, but no one ever beat him at Risk."
The Doors — The End
Jim Morrison was a documented LSD user, and it eventually led him out of his mind. "The psychedelic Jim I knew just a year earlier, the one who was constantly coming up with colorful answers to universal questions, was being slowly tortured by something we didn't understand. But you don't question the universe before breakfast for years and not pay a price," said John Desmore in Riders on the Storm: My Life With the Doors.
Morrison used many different drugs during his lifetime, but apparently LSD had a special place and he avoided using it while working. "LSD was a sacred sacrament that was to be taken on the beach at Venice, under the warmth of the sun, with our father the sun and our mother the ocean close by, and you realised how divine you were," said Ray Manzarek. "It wasn't a drug for entertainment. You could smoke a joint and play your music, as most musicians did at the time. But as far as taking LSD, that had to be done in a natural setting."
Morrison himself—a visionary who was also a drug-addled narcissist—was kind of the prototypical 1960s LSD-addled rock star. Alive with visions about poetry and sex but lost in his own self-destruction, he perhaps touched on something of the sublime with his art, but in the end he went down a very human path towards misery and decay.
Like many of these artists' stories, Morrison's life reveals that perhaps instead of using hallucinogens and psychedelics as shortcuts to a spiritual experience, one should exercise extreme caution when exploring the outer reaches of the psyche. When it comes to actually engaging with potent hallucinogens, that might be best left to the shamans, or forgotten with the excesses of the 1960s.
On the other hand, we might do well to learn from the lessons that people have gleaned from hallucinogens over the years—lessons that reveal just how interconnected everything is, that shows us that music and memory and nature may just all stem from the same place.
