This past year has been a wild ride for Texas-based, hip-hop collective, BROCKHAMPTON.
They shook the world of underground hip-hop by releasing a trilogy of albums called SATURATION, booking a year-long world tour, making their late-night debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and signing a multi-million-dollar record deal with RCA all within a span of a year.
However, the self-proclaimed boyband also had to deal with the departure of founding member, Ameer Vann, after he was kicked out of the group for lying about sexual abuse allegations made against him.
The challenge of losing a core member and close friend, as well as finding newfound fame, fueled the creative fires for their latest effort, iridescence.
What made the boyband so interesting and appealing in the first place was how each member had a different and unique personality and perspective. This is no different on iridescence.
BROCKHAMPTON is comprised of thirteen members, six of which serve as the group’s lead vocalists: Kevin Abstract, Merlyn Wood, Matt Champion, Dom McLennon, Joba, and Bearface.
In past projects, the group would utilize Bearface’s warm and dreamy ballads for closing tracks. On iridescence, he shows his musical versatility by spitting some verses of his own, which may be polarizing for some fans, but is a welcome change for many others.
Joba and Merlyn Wood deliver some of their most intense and emotional material yet. Joba’s explosive verse on “J’OUVERT” is an outstanding highlight on the album, as he aggressively raps about dealing with fame and his experience with drugs and mental health.
Merlyn gets his time to shine on his mostly solo track “WHERE THE CASH AT,” with an exciting and experimental beat with an impressive flow and delivery. Wood also has moments like these through the album, such as his closing verse on “NEW ORLEANS” and his verse on “J’OUVERT.”
The album also features some of BROCKHAMPTON’s saddest and vulnerable material to date.
Kevin Abstract delivers his most stunning performance on “WEIGHT.” Abstract, who has openly rapped about being gay in the past, shares his experience with a past girlfriend that gives fans a look into Kevin’s adolescence.
He also expresses his concern that he is “the worst in the boyband,” and discusses his struggle to help other bandmates with their mental health issues.
Other members also share their struggles with mental health. Dom McLennon, who has shown his lyrical and poetic prowess in the past, has a sad yet beautiful verse on “THUG LIFE,” detailing his experience with depression.
On “SAN MARCOS,” Joba, who has talked about his mental health issues before on tracks like “SISTER/NATION” off of Saturation III, and the aforementioned “J’OUVERT,” confesses that he has suicidal thoughts.
The production on iridescence is some of BROCKHAMPTON’s smoothest and interesting work so far. Some tracks have the usual lavish sound you would expect from their past projects, while other tracks allowed the artists to find new ways to tweak their style.
It is clear that the group has grown and matured. They are not afraid to explore topics outside of their comfort zone and are willing to experiment with their sound and style.
While iridescence shares many qualities from BROCKHAMPTON’s previous work, it also takes a couple of steps into a new and exciting direction. Even though the group has released four albums within the span of a little more than a year, they still find new ways to keep things interesting and exciting for fans.
Caesar Torres
Editor in Chief
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