BROCKHAMPTON: “iridescence” (Review)

How do you become a phenomenon? Right now in music, no one knows quite how to do it like Brockhampton. Like Odd Future before them, they’ve become a full-blown THING – more an idea or a vibe than a mere ‘group’ at this point. Their latest album, iridescence, has got all that same manic energy that made them so eye-catching in the first place. This isn’t a concept album or deep dive into the Brockhampton members’ personalities. This is just combustible energy releasing from a bunch of creative, confused twenty-somethings.

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— 28 Jul 2018 —

Written by Deshawn Campbell

You won’t find many rappers with the sort of promise that Compton rapper Buddy was showing in 2011. That year, a very impressed Pharrell Williams signed him to the label I Am Other. Soon after, the two debuted ‘Awesome Awesome’ – a Neptunes-produced track with a video showing an 18-year-old Buddy coasting confidently through crisp, sunny New York streets. Pharrell declared him ‘on his way to being one of those super special artists’. We’re sitting here seven years later with Buddy’s debut album, Harlan & Alondra, and it’s fair to wonder where a lot of that promise has gone.

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