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.