JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates JOVM mainstay Genesis Owusu’s 27th birthday.
Tag: alternative hip-hop
New Audio: 17 Year-Old Nevi Outlyr Shares Deceptively Breezy “Stuck”
17 year-old, emerging artist Nevi Outlyr started rapping in church when he turned 15. Originally, he didn’t take either seriously. But that changed after he started college and a particularly difficult breakup. “I was hitting open mics everywhere, partly trying to get her attention, mostly trying to prove to myself I was worth listening to,” the young artist explains.
As for his name, there’s a story behind that: “I ask my mom to give me an artist name. She says, ‘Inevitable.’ Long, but it felt like,” he recalls. “After a few versions, I landed on Nevi. That Outlyr part came from, believe it or not, a math class. I learned about how one number way off from the rest can shift the whole average, an ‘outlier.'” He says, “It stuck. Never thought I’d relate to numbers, but somehow that felt like me.”
Gradually for the young artist, his efforts became less about being heard and more about being honest. “Every track I make is just me trying to make sense of whatever’s going on in m head,” he says, “Anxiety, joy, the awkwardness of being all — it’s al in there.” He goes on to describe his sound as “ambivalent, experimental hip-hop with a hint of toxic positivity. Think ‘Hey Ya,’ by OutKast for reference. People tell me that I give Chance the Rapper, Andre 3000, Smino, sometimes even Mac Miller, depending on the track.”
“But most of the time,” he adds, “I feel like a character stuck in an episode of Seinfeld. At the end of the day I make music for people like me, the overthinkers, the soft-spoken loud minds, people trying to laugh through the heavy stuff. My songs might not save the world, but they might make you feel like you’re not alone in it.”
His latest single “Stuck” is a deceptively upbeat and breezy track that features the young artist’s remarkably Andre 3000-meets-Mac Miller-meets-Chance the Rapper-like flow darting around carnival ride in hell-inspired production featuring an eerily twinkling synth melody, a breakneck and propulsive synth bass line and a lysergic break and guitar solo. But underneath upbeat and breezy vibes, the song describes a familiar sensation for anyone who’s a go-getter — the feeling that you’re somehow stuck in place while everyone else around you is racing past you.
Honestly, even in my 40s I’ve felt this! And I’d bet that many of you readers have felt the same at various times, including now. But with age, there’s occasional moments of wisdom that reminds you that it’s usually just perception, ego and your stupid brain.
Photography: Free Tuesdays at Union Pool 1/7/25: Marlon DuBois with F.G.S. and Patch
Live concert photography of Union Pool’s Free Tuesdays feat. Marlon DuBois with F.G.S. and Patch.
New Audio: Los Angeles’ Paradise Jonze Shares Introspective and Soulful “OLDER”
Los Angeles-based hip-hop duo Paradise Jonze — JakeyO (vocals) and Alpharo (vocals, production) — released their six-track, self-titled debut EP last month. The EP sees the pair trading verses on growth and change over dusty, chopped-up soul instrumentals.
The EP’s latest single, opening track “OLDER” features the pair trading the sort of introspective and unabashedly honest verses that recall JOVM mainstays Atmosphere paired with a dusty, chopped up and soulful instrumental that’s one-part J. Dilla, one-part Stones Throw Records.
New Video: Trvy & The Enemy Shares Woozy and Funky “Matthew McConaughey”
Athens, GA-based hip-hop outfit Trvy & The Enemy has received attention locally and regionally for fearlessly crafting a boundary-blurring sound that blends elements of trap music and psych rock while captivating audiences with their high energy performances and daring musical experimentation.
Leading the group is Trvy, a solo artist, who over the past few years has cemented a place for himself in Georgia’s underground hip-hop scene with several self-released albums that display his skillful lyricism. Along with a captivating stage presence, the Georgia emcee has earned a dedicated fanbase and widespread recognition across the state’s scene.
Back in 2021, the Georgia emcee wanted to record a Tiny Desk-styled home concert with a live band, seeking to expand his sound within backing tracks while reimagining his sound. This lead to the formation of his then-newly minted backing band The Enemy, a trio of childhood friends, who share an uncanny musical simpatico.
Drawing from an eclectic array of genres including funk, jazz, punk rock, hip-hop and Afrobeat, the members of the outfit engage in perpetual experimentation and improvisation, pushing the boundaries of their collective sound while ensuring that lyrics remain prominently at the forefront.
Last year, saw the release of their self-titled, 5-song EP, which featured two reimagined tracks from Troy’s solo work, along with three songs written collaboratively by the band. Building upon a growing profile, the outfit’s recently released sophomore EP Choose Your Enemy follows extensive studio sessions dedicated to refining their sound. The EP’s material continues to showcase their diverse range and adventurous experimentation while offering listeners a glimpse into what lies ahead for them musically and creatively.
Choose Your Enemy EP’s latest single “Matthew McConaughey” pairs Trvy’s dexterous and swaggering bars with a trippy pimp strut of an arrangement featuring reverb-drenched and arpeggiated keys, Funkadelic-like guitar riffage and boom bap-meets-jazz inflected drumming. Sonically, “Matthew McConaughey” recalls North Mississippi All-Stars‘ mind-bending and forward-thinking Electric Blue Watermelon Screwed and Chopped EP, a lysergic and narcotic-fueled remix of material off Electric Blue Watermelon — but rooted in a nasty, grimy funk.
The video follows the Athens-based emcee on a wild booze and presumably hallucinogen-fueled adventure.
New Audio: Angry Blackmen Team up with Fatboi Sharif on Brooding and Nihilistic “Dead Men Tell No Lies”
Chicago-based hip-hop duo Angry Blackmen — Quentin Branch and Brian Warren — features members, who individually spent their time stretching their creative arms and tapping into different sounds for a couple of years, before Warren suggested that they collaborate together as a duo towards the end of 2016.
Branch and Warren exploded into the underground and experimental hip-hop scenes with their debut single “OK!,” a track that showcased the pair’s adept ability to spit bars. Their second single “Riot!” was a near-complete shift in sound that remained tethered to the sonic foundation that they’d first built.
Their debut EP, 2019’s Talkshit! was released to attention and acclaim, before eventually catching the attention of Philadelphia-based progressive label Deathbomb Arc, known for its avant and eclectic roster featuring releases from Death Grips, JPEGMAFIA, JOVM mainstays clipping., Julia Holter, U.S. Girls and others.
Deathbomb Arc went on to release the duo’s full-length debut, 2020’s HEADSHOTS! and its follow-up EP, 2021’S REALITY!, both of which saw the duo expanding their range sonically while further honing their craft.
The Chicago-based duo’s highly-anticipated 11-song, Formants-produced sophomore album The Legend of ABM is slated for a January 26, 2024 release through Deathbomb Arc. The album reportedly sees Branch and Warren spinning tales of depression, existentialism, self-reflection, tragedy and survival that are unvarnished, lived-in and downright ugly paired with soundscapes that seem to come from a dystopian, apocalyptic future, informed by our hellish present. The result: Two talented emcees providing a passionate yet introspective look at the world at large, with their raw, pathos-infused lyrics educating the listener of our increasingly dystopian, fucked up, apocalyptic world — from the eyes, hearts and perspective of young Black men.
Clocking in at about 30-minutes, the album thematically is a coming of age narrative centered around Black men navigating America, inspired by Richard Matheson’s 1954 post-apocalyptic horror novel I Am Legend. “For us, this album is kinda like our villain origin story, a bedtime story and introduction to those who have and haven’t heard of us yet. Black men have historically been the boogie men of America, so I think it’s fitting that we tell our own legend.”
Late last year, I wrote about two of The Legend of ABM singles:
- “Stanley Kubrick,” a song that featured Branch’s and Warren’s dizzyingly rapid fire, dexterous, braggadocio-filled bars and verses over a minimalist, industrial-like production that paired skittering trap beats with stormy and uneasy bursts of feedback and distortion. Sonically, “Stanley Kubrick” seamlessly meshed trap with the slow-burning and creeping dread of There Existed an Addiction to Blood-era clipping.‘
- “Sabotage” a song that featured Branch and Warren trading rapid fire, dexterous, densely worded yet introspective and deeply personal bars and verses describing their love/hate relationship with modern, American capitalism and their struggles with mental health and the struggle to survive in a mad, mad, mad world. The song sees its emcees vacillating between righteous outrage and heart wrenching despair over a glitchy and woozy production featuring tweeter and woofer rattling 808, skittering beats and noisy arpeggiated synth glitch.
The Legend of ABM‘s third and latest single “Dead Men Tell No Lies” is a brooding track featuring industrial clang and clatter, menacing and buzzing synths paired with skittering beats. And in this uneasy, hellscape Angry Blackmen’s Branch and Warren, along with rising New Jersey-based emcee Fatboi Sharif share trade hauntingly nihilistic verses, which both describes the existential hopelessness, despair and rage of living in a brutally inequitable, corrupt, racist society while adding upon the album’s overall themes of nihilism, tragedy and survival.
New Video: CZARFACE Shares Mischievous Animated Visual for “Czarchimedes’ Death Ray”
CZARFACE, the collaborative project featuring beloved underground hip-hop duo 7L & Esoteric and the Wu-Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck. The project’s name is derived from a fictional character that the trio created that’s patterned after comic book super villains with aspects of the personalities and quirks of each individual member.
Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past handful of years, the trio can trace their collaboration back to when 7L & Esoteric and Inspectah Deck toured together in the early 00s. That tour led to a series of collaborative singles including “Speaking Real Words” off 7L & Esoteric’s 2001 album, The Soul Purpose and “12th Chamber” off their 2010 album 1212, and a number of other singles.
Since the act formed back in 2013, they’ve released a handful of critically applauded albums: their 2013 self-titled debut, 2015’s Every Hero Needs a Villain, 2016’s A Fistful of Peril, 2018’s, Czarface Meets Metalface with the late MF DOOM and Czarface Meets Ghostface, with Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah, 2019’s The Odd Czar Amongst Us and 2021’s posthumously released collaboration with MF DOOM, SuperWhat?
The trio’s ninth album CZARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE was released earlier this month through Virgin Music and is an action-packed odyssey that continues a run of material influenced and informed by comic books, and features guest spot from Logic, Kool Keith, Nems, Frankie Pulitzer and a cast of others. “We’re back with that off-kilter, no filter,” CZARFACE’s Esoteric says.
The album sees the trio continuing to weave the unfiltered essence of OG braggadocio, introspective story-telling — and as always, the exploits of superheroes and supervillains that’s as engaging as when you used to flip through the pages of your favorite comic book or graphic novel. The album’s guests join CZARFACE on missions and side-quests — and the result is material that playful and lovingly explores the intersection of cosmic hip-hop and comic book culture. “The new album comes equipped with chaos, order and everything in between,” Esoteric explains. “It’s like a swirling vortex of cosmic carnage, but we bring it down to earth in places. We are, after all, in a new era. I hope what we made resonates with the people.”
CZARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE‘s latest single “Czarchimedes’ Death Ray” is built around a trippy production featuring boom bap beats paired with woozy, reverb soaked psychedelic guitars and old-school scratching. Each of the super talented emcees spits mischievously dexterous and swaggering bars full of pop culture and comic book references, while referencing the supervillain’s unique stash of weaponry. “Czar never resorts to conventional weaponry, thus the illustrious Death Ray – a sonic homage to the Greek mathematician Archimedes,” Esoteric says.
Directed by Hoku Uchiyama and Adam Bolt, a.k.a. Hoku & Adam, the accompanying video for “Czarchimedes’ Death Ray” employs animation and live-action footage to capture and evoke the boundless imagination of a young comic book reader, who mischievously inserts her favorite arch-villain Czarface into the adventures of The Power Partners to hilariously chaotic and imaginative effect.
“We needed a visual that captured Czarface’s brand of justice and a kid’s boundless imagination,” Esoteric says of the video. “But also one that also kept a comic-like pace to match the track.”
New Video: JOVM Mainstay Genesis Owusu Returns with Breakneck “SURVIVOR”
If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of years, you’d know that I’ve managed to spill copious amounts of virtual ink covering the acclaimed, multi-ARIA Award-winning Ghanian-born, Canberra-based JOVM mainstay Genesis Owusu.
The acclaimed Aussie JOVM mainstay’s sophomore album STRUGGLER was released earlier this year through OURNESS/AWAL. Where Smiling With No Teeth thematically uncovered one Black man’s battles against — and with — depression and racism, STRUGGLER is reportedly an exploration of the chaos and absurdity of life, our ability to endure and how to get through it all. The album’s material is deeply inspired by a close friend hitting the brink and coming through the other side, along with questions of life and beauty that he found himself contemplating during readings of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis.
Recorded between the States and Australia, STRUGGLER‘s producers traverse musical genres — and includes Jason Evigan, who has worked with RUFUS DU SOL and SZA; Mikey Freedom Hart, who worked on Jon Batiste’s 2021 Grammy of the Year Album, We Are; Sol Was, who worked on Beyoncé’s Renaissance; and Owusu’s long-time collaborators and producers Andrew Klippel and Dave Hammer.
Additionally, Owusu has collaborated with acclaimed Kiwi-based Lisa Reihana on the album’s complete visual identity. Reihana’s work has been showcased in elite institutions throughout the States and the EU, including the Venice Biennale for her critically-acclaimed video installation, In Pursuit of Venus [Infected]. Her work spans across a diverse of media — including film, costume and body adornment and video installation, and as a result she has earned a reputation as a world-renowned artist and producer, who engages in thought-provoking dialogues around the concept of culture.
I’ve managed to write about three of he album’s singles:
- “Leaving the Light,” an urgent ripper that begins with a spine-crawling run of bass notes before quickly morphing into breakneck sFreedom of Choice-era DEVO-like anthem paired with the JOVM’s swaggering, larger-than-life presence and his unerring knack for rousing, shout along worthy choruses. “Leaving the Light” is a cathartic song about survival and perseverance that feels necessary in a mad, mad, mad world.
- The Sol Was-produced “Tied Up!,” a swaggering and funky bop built around a propulsive stomp, swirling and warped funk guitar and wobbling bass synths paired with the JOVM mainstay’s forceful delivery. The song speaks of the struggle of getting by in an uneasy, insane world and desperately holding onto yourself as best as you can in the process.
- “Stay Blessed” is a breakneck, mosh pit friendly anthem built around buzzing, angular guitar attack, rapid-fire beats paired with the JOVM mainstay’s punchy delivery. Much like the previously released singles, “Stay Blessed” speaks of survival and desperate resilience in a mad, mad, mad world that’s out to destroy you.
Coming on the heels of his recent ARIA Award wins for Album of the Year, Best Independent Release and Best Hip-Hop/Rap Release for STRUGGLER — and just before his headlining December Australia tour, the JOVM mainstay closes out the year with a surprise release single “SURVIVOR,” which will be included as an additional track to his acclaimed sophomore album.
Built around a hook-driven, percussive and glitchy industrial meets trap music-inspired production “SURVIVOR” sees Owusu’s rapid-fire verses dart and ducking like a boxer deftly avoiding his opponent’s punches. Referencing Kafka’s Metamorphosis, the song’s narrator discusses the struggle to have hope in a desperate, fucked up world; the struggle to have confidence and self-worth in a world that constantly tells you that you ain’t shit and that you’ll never be worth shit; the endless sense of exhaustion and rage that you don’t quite know what to do with — and with the sort of unvarnished and uneasy honesty that Owusu has been known for. “THE STORY NEVER ENDS, THE ROACH KEEPS ROACHING. THROUGH SPACE, TIME, FIRE & BRIMSTONE,” Owusu says of the new single.
Directed by Lisa Reihana, the accompanying video for “SURVIVOR” is set in a post-apocalyptic world of fire and industrialism and features a regal Owusu leading and surrounded by a collection of choreographed dancers with a militaristic precision.
New Audio: CZARFACE Returns with Swaggering and Mischievous “Czarimedes’ Death Ray”
Over the past couple of years, i’ve written quite a bit about CZARFACE, the collaborative project featuring beloved underground hip-hop duo 7L & Esoteric and the Wu-Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck.
The project’s name is derived from a fictional character that the trio created that’s patterned after comic book super villains and aspects of the personalities and quirks of each individual member, the project can trace its origins back to when 7L & Esoteric and Inspectah Deck toured together.
That tour led to a series of collaborative singles including “Speaking Real Words” off 7L & Esoteric’s 2001 album, The Soul Purpose and “12th Chamber” off their 2010 album 1212, and a number of other singles. The act officially formed in 2013 and since then, they’ve released
Since the act formed back in 2013, they’ve released a handful of critically applauded albums: their 2013 self-titled debut, 2015’s Every Hero Needs a Villain, 2016’s A Fistful of Peril, 2018 saw two collaborations, Czarface Meets Metalface with the late MF DOOM and Czarface Meets Ghostface, with Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah, 2019’s The Odd Czar Amongst Us and 2021’s posthumously released collaboration with MF DOOM, Super What?
The trio’s ninth album together, CZARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is slated for a December 1, 2023 release through Virgin Music. The action-packed odyssey continues a run of material influenced and informed by comic books, and features guest spot from Logic, Kool Keith, Nems, Frankie Pulitzer and a cast of others. “We’re back with that off-kilter, no filter,” CZARFACE’s Esoteric says.
The album sees the trio continuing to weave the unfiltered essence of OG braggadocio, introspective story-telling — and as always, the exploits of superheroes and supervillains that’s as engaging as when you used to flip through the pages of your favorite comic book or graphic novel. The album’s guests join CZARFACE on missions and side-quests — and the result is material that playful and lovingly explores the intersection of cosmic hip-hop and comic book culture. “The new album comes equipped with chaos, order and everything in between,” Esoteric explains. “It’s like a swirling vortex of cosmic carnage, but we bring it down to earth in places. We are, after all, in a new era. I hope what we made resonates with the people.”
CZARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE‘s latest single “Czarchimedes’ Death Ray” is built around a trippy production featuring boom bap beats paired with woozy, reverb soaked psychedelic guitars and old-school scratching. Each of the super talented emcees spits mischievously dexterous and swaggering bars full of pop culture and comic book references, while referencing the supervillain’s unique stash of weaponry. “Czar never resorts to conventional weaponry, thus the illustrious Death Ray – a sonic homage to the Greek mathematician Archimedes,” Esoteric says.
Yesterday saw the official release of an already almost sold-out Record Store Day “Stole The Ball” version of the album. The exclusive limited edition vinyl-only RSD Black Friday version of the album features two bonus tracks and special cover with artwork illustrated by their longtime collaborator, Lamour Supreme.