Tag: REMI For Good feat. Sampa The Great

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Certainly, if you’ve been frequenting the site over the past 12-18 months or so you’ve come across a handful of posts on Melbourne, Australia-based emcee REMI  and his producer and collaborator Sensible J. The duo rose to national prominence in their homeland with 2014’s critically and commercially successful  Raw X Infinity, an album that was named Triple J‘s Album of the Week and the Independent Hip Hop Album of the Year by the Australian Independent Record Association, a well as receiving international attention from OkayAfrica, JUICE, laut.de, NPR‘s All Things Considered among others. And adding to a growing profile, the duo were named “Australian Breakthrough Artist of the Year,” and followed that up with touring nationally and across both the UK and EU with Danny Brown, Vic Mensa, De La Soul, Joey Bada$$ and Damon Albarn.

Last year saw the release of the duo’s critically applauded sophomore full-length effort, Divas and Demons, which paired their strengths — an incredibly adept lyricist and storyteller, whose stories possessed an uncommonly earnest, soul-baring honesty and an incredibly dope and soulful producer, whose sound and production nods at the great J. Dilla, DJ Premier and others; in fact, you’d probably recall “For Good,” a charmingly coquettish love song in which its male and female narrators have misunderstandings, bicker and fight, cheat and drive each other insane in a youthfully dysfunctional relationship featuring a guest spot from Sydney, Australia-based poet, visual artist and singer/songwriter Sampa The Great rhyming and singing over a warm and soulful production that nodded at The Roots and Erykah Badu‘s “You Got Me;” “Substance Therapy,” the album’s second single featured Remi rhyming honestly about how drinking, drugging and womanizing as an escape from himself and his depression only managed to further mire him in depression paired with a production that emphasizes the rapid vacillation of self-loathing, self-doubt, fear, anger, and desperate escapism of the severely depressed; “Lose Sleep” was a deeply personal song that drew from REMI’s own experiences a mixed race man in Australia and in the world — and in some way, he wanted the song to be a message to other mixed race kids about that weird feeling of feeling as though you could never quite fit in; but that his experience and story, as of those of others matters in a much larger story; and the last single I wrote about “Contact Hi/High/I” featured REMI along with a guest spot from  Hiatus Kaiyote‘s Silent Jay rhyming and singing about what seems to be a permanent state of adolescence, which constantly validates itself through vice and excess.

Interestingly enough, this year marks Sensible J’s solo debut — and his first single “Fire Sign” is a a collaboration with his friends and frequent collaborators REMI and Sampha the Great, which features the two rhyming over a thumping and swaggering, soulful groove, reminiscent of the aforementioned J. Dilla, thanks to a production featuring twinkling keys, boom bap-like drum programming and a ridiculous, anthemic hook; in fact, in a playful turn, the trio pay homage to A Tribe Called Quest — and it shouldn’t be surprising because much like the legendary Tribe and De La Soul, the Melbourne-based trio specialize in an overwhelmingly soulful, thoughtful hip-hop, serving as a reminder that the genre and its practitioners have always been wildly diverse; after all, NWA, Tribe, De La, Public Enemy, Kid ‘N’ Play, MC Lyte and others all existed simultaneously.

 

 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

 

Born in Zambia, raised in Botswana and currently based in Sydney, Australia, the 23 year old poet, visual artist, emcee, singer/songwriter and pop artist Sampa the Great, who publicly has cited Mos Def, Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill, Nneka, and others, as influences. And since the release of The Great Mixtape and collaborations with fellow Australians, pop artist Wallace on the skittering and jazzy single “Beauty” and internationally acclaimed Australian emcee Remi on the neo-soul and conscious hip-hop influenced “For Good,” the Sydney, Australia-based artist has quickly built up a growing internationally recognized profile as she’s opened for the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Thundercat, Hiatus Kaiyote, Ibeyi, Little Simz and Fat Freddy’s Drop, as well as played sets at Golden Plains, Sugar Mountain, Laneway, WOMAD and Vivid LIVE. However, 2017 may arguably be the Sampa the Great’s breakout year as her Rakhi-produced HERoes Act 2 was released yesterday through Red Bull Sound Select, and features the Sydney, Australia-based artist collaborating with Estelle. And while further cementing her reputation for a ridiculously dexterous flow that draws from spoken word performances, old school, hip-hop lyricism, with complex inner rhyme and multisyllabic rhyme schemes, old school soul and the blues and jazz, her latest single “The Plug” features Estelle and Sampa doing their thing with a swaggering, self-assuredness over a Timbaland-like production featuring futuristic bleeps and bloops, industrial clang and clatter, glitchy and shuffling beats and swirling electronics.

HERoes Act 2 is the second part of a two part narrative series of songs and genre-defying collaborative projects with Act being a spoken-world video, 2 track exploration into self-discovery and inner strength within a world that’s gone mad with uncertainty, racism and fear. “The Plug,” like the two other songs on the EP continue in a similar vein while continuing her reputation for crafting material based around her own personal experiences as an outsider, her desire and need to create, and the recognition that as individuals and as a society, that we need to value the strength and abilities of the individual; but in terms of this particular song, the song leans towards recognizing and championing the god-given talents of the individual, while brushing away haters and nay-sayers, with your desire to make a name for yourself at what you can do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay REMI Further Cements His Growing Reputation for Thoughtful, Conscious, and Soulful Hip-Hop

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past year or so, you’ve likely come across a couple of posts on Melbourne, Australia-based emcee Remi and his producer and collaborator Sensible J. And as you may recall the duo rose to national prominence with the 2014 release of their critically and commercially successful effort Raw X Infinity, an album that was named Triple J’s Album of the Week and the Independent Hip Hop Album of the Year by the Australian Independent Record Association, and received international attention from OkayAfrica, JUICE, laut.de, NPR‘s All Things Considered, and several others. Adding to a growing national and international profile, the young Melbourne-based artist was named “Australian Breakthrough Artist of the Year” and he along with his producer and collaborator wound up touring nationally and across the UK and the EU with Danny Brown, Vic Mensa, De La Soul, Joey Bada$$ and Damon Albarn.

Last year saw the release of the duo’s critically applauded full-length Divas and Demons, an album that revealed a supremely talented emcee, who was an adept lyricist and storyteller, whose stories possessed an earnest and soul-baring honesty. In fact, you may recall that I wrote about the album’s first three singles “For Good,” a charmingly coquettish love song in which its male and female narrators have misunderstandings, bicker and fight, cheat an drive each other insane in a youthfully dysfunctional relationship featuring Sydney, Australia-based poet, visual artist and singer/songwriter Sampa The Great rhyming and singing over a warm and soulful production by Sensible J that nodded at The Roots and Erykah Badu’s “You Got Me.” “Substance Therapy,” the album’s second single featured Remi rhyming honestly about how drinking, drugging and womanizing as an escape from himself and his depression only managed to further mire him in depression. Along with provocative, soul-baring lyrics, Sensible J’s production was meant to emphasize vacillating sense of self-loathing, elf-doubt, fear, anger, and desperate escapism of the dangerously depressed. The album’s third single “Lose Sleep” was a deeply personal song that drew from Remi’s own experiences a mixed race man in Australia and in the world — and in some way, he wanted the song to be a message to other mixed race kids about that weird feeling of feeling as though you could never quite fit in; but that his experience and story, as of those of others matters in a much larger story.
“Contact Hi/High/I” is the latest single off 2016’s Divas and Demons and the as the Melbourne-based emcee explains of his collaboration with Hiatus Kaiyote’s Silent Jay, “I wrote this joint when I was living out of home. One of my friends once told me: ‘In Australia, we have it so good, we’re afforded the liberty to stay childish for our whole lives.’ Whether drinking culture, drug culture, consumerism, etc. I kinda noticed this in myself and wanted to just write about my childish mentality, and how it was being validated by my vices.” The single features both Silent Jay and Remi singing and rhyming over a warm and soulful Sensible J production consisting of twinkling keys, congo drumming and stuttering beats. Interestingly, as a New Yorker, the song captures a familiar sentiment that has come up lately in my life, especially as I inch my way into my 40s.

The recently released music video features Remi, Sensible J and Silent Jay baking cookies, goofing off and hanging out with their homies but underneath the mischief and comic antics is a more serious commentary. In fact, there’s the sense of each of the video’s subjects playing at being adults and not quite knowing how to do it properly; but if you truly consider it: no one really quite knows what to go about being an adult, they make it up as they go along.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Melbourne Australia’s REMI Returns With Yet Another Conscientious and Soulful Single Paired With Brooding Visuals

“Lose Sleep,” Demons and Divas latest single is a collaboration with London-based singer/songwriter Jordan Rakei, and the single draws from Remi’s own experiences as a mixed race Australian man and artist. As he explains in press notes “Since our last record, a lot of young mixed race Aussie kids have come to me talking about how much they can relate to the racial struggle in our music. I don’t think that’s a good thing, but I’m proud that these kids feel a little less alone, because of some songs we didn’t think anyone would hear. It also became inspiration for me to continue opening up about my experience. Often you can feel like one crazy beige kid in a sea of ignorance shouting about equality. These kids helped change that for me.” Sonically, the single features Remi rhyming with an unvarnished honesty about not fitting in anywhere and of being reminded that your life doesn’t matter as much as others can drive some to hate themselves and feel as though they’re going crazy — while recognizing that as an adult, he has a responsibility to show the world that people like him do matter, and contribute so much to a larger story. Jordan Rakei contributes a silky and soulful hook about history’s ugly weight and how we need to stop our destructive ways to make it a better world. Both artists do their thing over an equally soulful and sinuous production featuring twinkling keys, stuttering percussion and funky guitar and bass. And much like the preceding two singles, the single will further cement the young artist’s reputation for relatable yet profoundly conscientious and thoughtful hip-hop.

The recently released video consists of sequences filmed in London and Melbourne features the song’s two artists transversing the night — whether by cab or walking with a brooding loneliness while singing the song. And while possessing a relatively simple concept, the video manages to convey the uncertain and fucked up times many of us find ourselves in now.