SATURATION

BROCKHAMPTON BINGE PART 1: SATURATION I

So, okay. Really. How did it take me so long to check out BH?

BROCKHAMPTON are a hip-hop boy band from California (lets GOOOOO GANG GANG), consisting of over a dozen different members. They rose to prominence in 2017 with their SATURATION series, the band’s goal being to saturate (hence the title) the hip-hop field with so much material that people wouldn’t be able to help but notice them. In roughly six months, they released a ridiculous 145 minutes of material, spread out over 3 albums. Of course, this plan to release so much music would have failed miserably if the music was bad. However, each of the albums were received incredibly well, and although I haven’t listened to the entire series yet, considering how good this project is and the fact that every SATURATION project was received better than the last, they deserve all of the attention they got and more. This album is absolutely amazing.

The album opens with “HEAT”, where a heavily distorted, slightly abrasive and yet minimal beat backs the members’ rapping, which is exceptional and perfectly establishes a small handful of the main members’ unique voices. Ameer’s chorus is also extremely memorable and catchy, as is Joba’s screamed, hilariously aggressive bridge and the epic, heavily layered outro. Clean, catchy choruses and minimal but effective beats that bring out the best in BROCKHAMPTON are both two incredibly common themes on this LP, like on “GOLD”, “BOYS”, “TRIP”, and “BUMP”, among many other songs. Specifically, on the song “BUMP”, a distorted, head-shaking drum beat strongly contrasts a slightly off-key, intimate chorus and guitar line. Although this album is full of bangers, there are also a fair amount of more introspective, quieter tracks on this project. For example, “SWIM” touches on love and looking back on the past, “TRIP” and “MILK” are about self-acceptance (the former’s vocal processing is almost reminiscent of 100 gecs, and the latter’s spoken word-ish delivery and intimate writing and performances make it one of the best tracks on the project), and “FACE” is an incredibly sad and well-made track about the termination of a relationship. The closer, “WASTE” (the only song that doesn’t have a 4-character title) is an effective closer- its echoing guitar and emotionally packed vocal performance almost feels like a follow-up to the previous “FACE”, and despite the fact that only one BROCKHAMPTON member was on this track (and one guest vocalist), it still is a great closer to this amazing record.

So, in summary, I loved this album. It’s easily one of my favorite hip-hop projects of all time on first listen, and although it may grow off me slightly as I listen to the other BROCKHAMPTON projects, I cannot deny that this is an incredibly well-produced, catchy, slick, and just an exceptional album.

/// Announcement below! If you've seen this review before it was updated, you've already seen the announcement, but whatever. Here it is. ///

Zero idea why I didn't make this announcement on the Peaceful As Hell review, but I'm planning to start binging artists' discographies this year (hopefully once a month or so) to discover artists that people love and that I've wanted to check out for a while, as well as to make my review output more consistent. After BROCKHAMPTON, I'm planning on checking out projects from Death Grips, Radiohead, Ariana, The Beatles, etc. For each album I listen to, I will write a review, and if I've already listened to it, I'll revise my review and score. If you have any suggestions for artists I should check out, please drop them in the comments section or shouts. Thank you so much! Love you all <3