A$AP Mob, TDE, OVO, Dreamville, GOOD Music. When you think hip-hop group, these are probably the names that most frequently spring to mind and rightfully so. Each of these groups is loaded with talent, each with one huge name and many incredible ‘supporting’ acts. This year, a name I had never even heard of cropped up: BROCKHAMPTON. I admittedly had absolutely no idea what it was, who was in it and what their music sounded like. I could see that they had an almost cult following on Reddit, yet paid no attention to them. It eventually took a recommendation from my cousin, who highly praised the album, in order for me to listen to this project. Good thing I did.
The story of BROCKHAMPTON is awesome. Founded in 2015, BROCKHAMPTON consists of 12-15 members (numbers vary) who met on a Kanye West forum. Kevin Abstract, the credited founder, told VICELAND “I made BROCKHAMPTON because I didn’t have any friends”, as good a reason as any in my opinion. This brings me to SATURATION II and after listening to it, my eventual opinion that it is one of the most underrated albums of the year.
SATURATION II released without a lot of hype from anyone but BROCKHAMPTON fans. It dropped on the same day as much more popular acts, such as A$AP Mob, Lil Uzi Vert and XXXTentacion. Because of this heavy competition, SATURATION II only debuted at number 57 on the Billboard Top 100, whereas the albums from the aforementioned artist all debuted in the top 10. However in my opinion, if we’re talking quality wise, SATURATION II exceeds all of them.
Production wise, SATURATION II is practically flawless. The beats are meticulously crafted, giving off a very alternative hip-hop vibe, almost Vince Staples like. From a listening perspective, there’s no stand-out mumbling and the vocalists in the group are skilled lyricists from what I could hear. I will admit that when listening I couldn’t identify which individual member of BROCKHAMPTON was handling the vocals, but I could identify the differences between each. Sometimes, there are albums that come around that are good to listen to. SATURATION II is 100% one of those albums. I cannot explain what it is, but the combination of vocals and production just combine to make for an incredibly enjoyable listening experience.
Listening to the album, if I were to really nitpick for negatives I would have to single out “GAMBA”. It’s not that it’s a trash song and I actually quite like it, I just don’t believe that the heavy use of auto-tune fits in with the rest of the album’s sound. After listening to almost the whole album filled with fantastic rapping and great production, the auto-tune was a bit of a let down. Like I said I didn’t mind it but I know some will dislike the track. That being said, the rest of the album is absolutely phenomenal.
Aside from the two ‘scenes’ that appear on the album, you could absolutely make the argument there are no skippable tracks, SATURATION II is that good. Top to bottom, the quality is undeniable but I will attempt to narrow down my analysis to a few of the true stand out tracks.
Across those standout tracks, BROCKHAMPTON adopts an almost signature style. Throughout, a different rapper will usually handle each verse and commonly the hook (when there is one) will be high-pitched. I loved these high-pitched sections in songs, as they enabled tracks such as “GUMMY”, “QUEER” and “JELLO” to become infectiously catchy. These three tracks, the first three of the album, are the perfect little introduction to the rest of the project. It sets the tone of what you should be expecting listening to SATURATION II, quality rapping and ear-worming hooks.
These catchy tracks also don’t distract from the fact there is a lot of substance and meaning behind some songs. Immediately, “JUNKY” comes to mind. The song does a fantastic job describing the inner demons that some of the members of BROCKHAMPTON face. The first verse by Kevin Abstract is particularly strong, detailing the struggles of being openly gay in a culture that doesn’t support homosexuals.
With lines such as “I told my mom I was gay, why the fuck she ain’t listen? I signed a pub deal and her opinion fuckin’ disappearin’“, Abstract shows that even his mother wasn’t supportive of his sexuality until he started making money that could pay her loans. In response to criticisms that all he does is “rap about bein’ gay?“, Abstract rebuts “‘Cause not enough niggas rap and be gay“. He is defiant in his stance and proud of who he is, evidenced by the line “Where I come from, ni*gas get called “faggot” and killed/So I’ma get head from a ni*ga right here“. Within a culture where it is entirely feasible to argue homosexuals are not accepted, it was refreshing to hear Abstract so strongly stand up for his sexuality here and attack hip-hop for not being more accepting of those like him.
On this same track, Ameer Van details his problems with prescription and hard drug abuse, Merlyn Wood details how his relatives see his rap career as a gimmick, “guilt tripping” him into take a more respectable, educated route and Matt Champion discusses his mothers problems with alcoholism and his disgust with sexism. It’s a fantastic track that my small analysis won’t do justice, giving a lot of insight into the members of BROCKHAMPTON. Another memorable track was “SWEET”, one that doesn’t possess the depth of track’s such as “JUNKY” and “FIGHT” but the beat and stupidly catchy hook demand that I give it a short mention.
All in all, I have had the album on repeat for 2 weeks now and it’ll probably remain in my rotation through to the end of the year. It is one of the few albums released this year that I can listen to top-to-bottom in any scenario and not feel compelled to skip anything. With the news that SATURATION III is also going to be released this year, I’m now highly anticipating what BROCKHAMPTON does next. I can’t praise this album enough and you owe it to yourself to at least give it a shot and experience one of the best, most underrated albums of 2017.
Rating: 9/10
Songs for your playlist
- Everything besides SCENE 1 and 2
Station 22 