Vince Staples, Kendrick Lamar, Flume & Sophie and Troyboi

Today I have one of the sickest songs released this year, featuring a line up of artist that is bound to leave you stunned and pretty much in awe. Vince Staples has always been an artist that stuck to the underground scenes. We don't hear his name as often, don't hear his music that often, and don't really hear much media buzz about him. And that has been absolutely amazing! Why? Because it has allowed the rapper to grow and create music that is undeniably good and incredibly raw. Vince Staples doesn't beat around the bush nor does he sugar coat anything, just like the featured rapper in this song. Not only do we get to hear the raw words of Vince Staples, we get some gospel by Kendrick Lamar. And all of this is set to a beat produced by Flume and Sophie. The number of powerful names in this song is honestly overwhelmingly wicked!

The best way to go about talking about this song is from the production and the lyrical points of view. As I mentioned earlier, this song features the great lyrics of Vince Staples and Kendrick Lamar. We are started off with some of Vince Staples, and he gives us a pretty quick view into what this song is all about. He starts us off with the chorus which echoes the title of the song. But then, Vince Staples lays into it and starts calling out some of the things in society that he isn't a huge fan of. As he keeps the verses going, it becomes very clear that Vince Staples is happy to call out the entire rap industry. He goes on a lyrical tirade about the inherent boastfulness of rap and the rap industry. And then after a nice trance interlude, Kendrick Lamar starts rapping, and things officially hit the ceiling. Kendrick Lamar jumps on this same idea that Vince Staples, and in the same elegant way which DAMN. was written, Kendrick Lamar exposes the underbelly of the beast. Lyrically, this is a very well done song and opens up a perspective on a genre that seems to be really taking over the music scene. I personally, found that to be incredibly refreshing and rather exciting. There is never a dull moment when it comes to artists like Vince Staples and Kendrick Lamar. As always, they are ready to speak their minds and don't really give a damn about what people think.

Now, it is absolutely imperative that we talk about the production on this song. Becuase it is pretty damn epic. We saw a lot of Flume last year, with his hit single taking over all the radio waves across the globe. And while I am very happy to see him get the spotlight, I want to acknowledge why that happened. From the beginning, Flume has always had a very different electronic sound and favors genres like trip hop, future bass, and the likes. Of course, we have no disappointment from him and collaborating producer Sophie. They absolutely killed it on this song. What we get is this futuristic sound, something that we haven't heard in the rap game ever. When you isolate the electronic melodies and style, I have to say, I have found sounds and artists who create those sounds in a lesser known circuit. But Flume takes this style head on and gives us something that is so oddly fascinating that we cannot seem to pull away. The fist time I heard this song, I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about the beat. But the more I listened, the more my head bobbed and the more I wanted to get up and dance a bit. We get some truly industrial electronic music in this song, and Flume and Sophie pull it off with so much ease it's ridiculous. The pop deconstruction into something that was a bit greasier and grittier and sharp was a brilliant move and allowed the producers to release something that can be intense, powerful, exciting, etc. This song has so much to offer, and the list of incredible collaborating artists is like something out of a dream.Vince Staples, you really showed the world what you're made of by getting this together, so kudos.

Today's instrumental song is by one of my favorite electronic musicians, one who has a similar style to what we hear first. Troyboi is also another one of those well-hidden secrets, the kind of artist that some people know and others don't. The kind of artist who can catch you by surprise, and definitely the kind of artist who took industrial electronic music and warped it into a sound that is unlike anything else you will ever hear. This song is a bit of a newer one and starts out with an Arabian styled melody. But once that beat drops, you know it's game over. Troyboi has successfully gotten you as a fan because his beat drops are some of the calmest and sickest beats you will hear. In this song, we get so many Middle Eastern and Indian music influences, and Troyboi works those melody patterns so well. Everything just weaves together perfectly. I hope you enjoy the music and please feel free to comment!


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