• MichelLouise [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      I've been listening to more and more of this kind of alternative hip hop lately - like the mellow, emotional stuff, but not like cloud rap. Always loved Frank Ocean but without paying too much attention to the rest of "queer rap" (it's a dumb name, just can't find a better one rn - I'm more talking about genre and musicality than gender and sexuality here). But I'm basically discovering the genre, coming from the A$AP-Rocky-to-Tyler-the-Creator pipeline. I usually listen to more 'popish' hip hop like Kanye and Cudi or older stuff like ATCQ or OutKast.

      Any good stuff you would recommend to me?

      • thethirdgracchi [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        4 years ago

        I mean I cannot recommend American Boyfriend, it's such a strong album. Brockhampton (a boy band Kevin Abstract is part of) is pretty good, especially their Saturation trilogy. More along the pop direction is Safe in the Hands of Love by Yves Tumor, which is definitely more experimental but still has this laid back kind of vibe. Even more in that direction is soil by serpentwithfeet. He's like a gay, black Bjork and he's wonderful. More down the hip-hop side of things, check out The Internet (Odd Future splinter, so they worked with Frank and Tyler) and the solo work of some of their members (Steve Lacy and Syd are the best out of that). Kaytranada works with them a ton, and he's a gay music producer from Montreal that makes some wonderfully dance-y songs. His album 99.9% is a masterpiece, and is full of laid back hip-hop adjacent music. Janelle Monae has a lot of music that feels similar to Kevin Abstract's, a bit more poppy though and she's (imo) infinitely more talented than him. Her android cycle about a group of androids rebelling against a regime that oppresses them is fantastic. All this music I've listed is in a similar vein to Kevin Abstract in terms of sound, and I'm sure you'll find something in here that you really vibe with!

        • MichelLouise [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          4 years ago

          Already love The Internet and Kaytranada, and realized I know a few Brockhampton bangers. I'll make sure to check out the rest, thanks for the suggestions!