Tag: Angry Blackmen Stanley Kubrick

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

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.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Angry Blackmen Share Woozy “Sabotage”

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.”

Last month, I wrote about “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.

The Legend of ABM‘s second and latest single “Sabotage” features 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 — which of course, is often largely informed by one’s own struggle to survive. And as a result, the song sees its two emcees vacillating between righteous outrage and completely despair over a glitchy and woozy production featuring tweeter and woofer rattling 808, skittering beats and noisy arpeggiated synth glitch.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Chicago’s Angry Blackmen Share Eerie and Unsettling “Stanley Kubrick”

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 the 2016.

The Chicago-based duo 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 not always pretty paired with soundscapes that seem to come from a dystopian future — informed by our pre-apocalyptic world. The result is two emcees providing a passionate yet introspective look at the world-at-large, with their raw, pathos-infused lyrics educating the listener on our increasingly dystopian, apocalyptic world.

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.”

The Legend of ABM‘s first single “Stanley Kubrick” features Branch and Warren spitting dizzyingly fast, dexterous, braggadocio-filled bars and verses over Formants minimalist industrial production that pairs skittering trap-like beats with stormy bursts of feedback and distortion. The result is a song that seamlessly meshes elements of trap with the slow-burning dread and horror of There Existed an Addiction to Blood-era Clipping.

Directed by Jon Le Vert, the video features the duo in empty, dimly-lit, parking garage. The result is a video that captures the chaos, unease and apocalyptic panic of our current movement.