BROCKHAMPTON - SATURATION III

BROCKHAMPTON
SATURATION III
2017
Spotify

If SATURATION II was any indication of where this group is going than it's follow up is guaranteed to bring something entirely new. The first thing you notice about this record is just how cohesive it is, more so than anything they have done before. BROCKHAMPTON are starting to dial in their sound and what started as an experiment in group thought is becoming a masterclass in making a hip hop group work. As a group they came together in the forums of KanyeToThe and have since created an almost cult like collective around their music. borrowing from the format setup by Tyler the Creator's Odd Future the boys of Brockhampton act as a collective creating this really egalitarian sense to their music. Unless you are really listening it's hard to pick out one member from the other as the vocals change almost on a whim.  This is not like The Sugar Hill gang announcing each one of their names before they start rapping, It creates this swirling vibe like each voice is ready to pick up where the last left off even if it was mid sentence. It also gives the album a real flow to it, more so than a lot of hip hop. Instead of each track creating it's own world the whole thing sort of brings you in with little bridges here and there to keep everything connected. There is a really distinct limitless quality to these tracks, twisting and turning in a number of different ways. "BLEACH" this downtempo electronica track makes use of this really different sound to give hip hop a whole other dimension. The one issue on this record is you don't really find a single person to latch on to. Some voices are nicer and more potent than others, but just try to tell who is who moment to moment.

It would be easy to call this an old school hip hop album because its a big group of guys rapping, but there is really so much more going on. Having met on the internet, that world wide web plays a massive role on this record. From language to delivery everything on this album seems to be influenced by the net. This album more so than their others has a structure for success. Their previous record felt like everything was being thrown at them just to see what their really vibe was. Here however things are tighter in their chaos, it feels like there is a plan from the first moment. "SISTER/NATION" has this vaporwave quality to it with this incredibly slow paced beat that allows the rappers to drop lines upon lines over top of it. The decisions on this record just continue to be the right one after the right one. All the tracks here have something nice to offer, not all of them bang as hard as each other but there is never a point where you feel bored or over it. It's almost like Jurassic 5 have come back to life but in their 2018 form, and my oh my does it sound good. I was likely wrong for sleeping on BROCKHAMPTON, but I'm correcting the course. Get into it.

8.0 out of 10