Clipping.

It’s Clipping., bitch. What else do you need to know? The group is made up of three associates who together use their respective talents to create their unique niche, a weird realm inside the world of rap and hip-hop. Jonathan Snipes composes music for film, and William Hutson works in noise music. The man in the middle spilling out fragmented lyricism is stage actor Daveed Diggs.

The trio completed their first album Midcity entirely DIY and were quickly picked up by Sub Pop, who only minimally mastered this year’s release of CLIPPNG. Both albums are full of scraping imagery, dark places, and seedy situations. Diggs is extremely deft in his speed and poetry, which winds through stories about sex, murder, and déjà vu. Bass breaks down his spoken word narrative, so do collaborations with underground royalty such as Gansta Boo, Guce, and King Tee.

There is noise of broken glass and fast spinning reels, and occasionally crashing drums. But there are also whispers, chirping birds, and echoing bells over buzz, such as the quieter “Dream” (although it is thematically attached to the jolting alarm of following track “Get Up”). Clipping.’s style is an array of gritty prose and experimental sounds that are psychotic, but it is orchestrated with a precision that keeps the flow hypnotic. The result is an almost paranormal tale of fight, fetish, and fucked up situations. »

– Brandy Crowe