Independent voices and inclusive quintessence, BROCKHAMPTON is an underground hip-hop (some would say alt. hip-hop) group comprising of a DIY crew of twenty-something-year-olds. This musical group, teeming with vocal and lyrical talents, embarked on its journey into the music industry with a collective approach towards creativity from the “KanyeToThe” forum in 2015.
Influenced by The Social Network, these hip adolescents moved in together and have remained cumulative ever since. Drawing their game plan from Odd Future, the group has made dexterous efforts into building a social gathering online, innovating cooperatively, and expanding their fan base on Tumblr.
A striking yet alluring characteristic of this group is how it battles stereotypes by labelling itself as something which is unorthodox for their musical practices. For as long as one can remember, ‘boy-band’ has been a label that was unspokenly restricted for pop stars; BROCKHAMPTON has consciously asserted itself as a ‘hip-hop boy-band’ to subtly revolt against the labels and venture into a territory that was otherwise unwelcoming of ‘queer-unconventional-black’ rappers.
The group has proven itself to be one of a kind with a hat trick on the Billboard charts and producing a sequence of three albums within a year. The latest on their outputs is that the final to the Saturation trilogy series, Saturation III, has been mandated by critics as a true masterpiece. The album marks an end to their era of continual development from individualistic approaches to creativity toward a more collective and composed approach. Yet, Saturation III simply marks the beginning of an entirely new time period for BROCKHAMPTON as a group of serious hip-hop artists.
Saturation III reflects the group’s maturity in the music industry with the same ethos of ambition and energy but with an entirely new attitude toward stage and performance. The album delineates the core of their beliefs with a more peculiar, we-savvy, pop-influenced rap performance. With comparisons of Saturation I to Saturation III, the group has evidently developed in their artistic expressions from ambiguous, wool-gathering, incomplete lyrics to more systematic and accurate expressions.
On “BOOGIE,” Kevin Abstract rapping “I’ve been beat up my whole life/I’ve been shot down, kicked out twice/Ain’t no stoppin’ me tonight” makes for a clear illustration of their founding thoughts
The album reinforces their spirit of alienated, outcasts with emotional havocs, lack of acceptance and broken hearts, endeavoring to revive their self-belief and confidence through the collective effort of laborious creativity. The album creates a picture of self-confrontation and acceptance of their own flaws to venture beyond such limitations. This is memorable on “JOHNNY” as Dom McLennon says “Could’ve peaked when I was in high school, but I had bigger plans/Could’ve took the time out to find you, but you ain’t understand/You don’t gotta leave for them to define you, cause what would you demand?/When everybody out to define you, without a circumstance.” And, Matt Champion on “STAINS,” “Talk about what’s got us fucked up/We vent ’til the sun up, ay.”
On the surface, it seems self-derogatory but with a microscopic analysis of these legendary lyrics, it is quite palpable that BROCKHAMPTON is redeeming its liberty through the acceptance of their unchangeable flaws.
Stream the whole album below and let us know your thoughts!