Among stubborn hip hop heads, there seems to be a growing consensus that the genre has gone soft.
Constant radio saturation and heavy incorporation of R&B hooks are the basis for such an argument, with sultry, radio-ready tunes sending fans screaming for the glory days of the underground.
But while the days of g-funk are well and truly gone, hip hop is broadening its sound, and giving birth to artists that bring a whole new breed of aggressiveness with their experimental production and thought processes that are way outside any box.
Enter Antwon, the Californian rapper that used to play in hardcore punk bands way before he ever even thought about showing off his mic skills. As drastic as the change was, Antwon says he never forgets his musical roots, and he embodies both the spirit and tradition of the punk scene while still collaborating with underground legends like Clipping and Lil Ugly Mane.
“I don’t think I incorporate the punk style as much. It’s more through, like, the tradition,” Antwon says. “I mean, that’s what I grew up with, so it had a huge impact on me musically. But I make aggressive music, so I guess yeah, it’s just like the spirit living on through a new musical medium.”
As the old saying goes, too many cooks spoil the broth, and after becoming fed up with the lack of direction and focus that mired his work with former bandmates, Antwon decided that it was time to make the switch to hip hop and have more creative control over his art.
“I just didn’t really want to play in a band anymore,” he says. “The people I surrounded myself with at that time weren’t really on the same page as me. Music to me is really important, and I just wanted to figure out how to do music all the time and just live off a little bit, you know?
“Those people all had jobs that were more important to them than making music, so to cut out the middle man, I stopped doing stuff with bands and did it all by myself. And it’s not like I have full creative control – I still work with a lot of producers. But if it’s like, less people together, I just find that my creative flow is a lot better.”
Nonetheless, having fame comes with tiresome comparisons, especially within the hip hop scene. From his inception, Antwon’s flow has been compared to arguably the greatest rapper of all time, The Notorious BIG. While some may consider it a massive compliment, Antwon sees it as nothing more than an annoyance that takes away from the artist he is really trying to be.
“I get compared to Biggie all the time because of my flow, but I feel like it’s not a real opinion,” he says. “It kind of just puts me into this box as an artist. He doesn’t even have that many albums, and I don’t really see him as one of my biggest influences. I guess it’s just an opinion, but I feel like it’s a lazy comparison, you know? I like rap that’s fucking hard as hell with real crazy production, and Biggie never really had that. When everyone hears the new shit I’ve been doing, I don’t think that opinion is going to be around much longer.”
Antwon’s latest EP Double Ecstasy is a five track dark exploitation of the his inner mind, and focuses on the downside of the party atmosphere that most rappers would normally brag about. Having earned praise from critics and the online community for its experimental production and its distance from hip hop stereotypes, Antwon claims that the EP is only a taste of what’s to come, and his new material is definitely his favourite work yet.
“That EP and the way it was received was fucking tight,” he says. “We recorded it a while back, and just kind of stuck to the songs that fit right together. I was working with a lot of different producers, but I feel like it’s just kind of a trailer to the movie.
“I don’t know how much I can give away about the new album because I don’t really like to explain what a sound sounds like, but it’s my best work yet and I’m really excited,” he continues. “Shit’s gonna hit hard as hell when it eventually comes out. I promise y’all.”
Luckily for Australians, they won’t have to wait too long at all. Antwon will be playing a string of shows around the country next month, and word is he will be showcasing new material on what will be his first time in our fair land, as well as churning out cult tracks that made the internet stand up and take notice.
“Yo, Australia’s sick,” he says. “I’m gonna drink those Victoria Bitters, and I’m coming with my man Andy. I don’t know what I’m about to do, but shit will get crazy, I know that much. I want people to come wild out with me because I’ve heard so much about how crazy y’all motherfuckers are over there, so don’t let me down!”
Antwon appears at Yours And Owls festival, Woolongong on Saturday October 1 – Sunday October 2, then onWednesday October 5 atBeach Road Hotel and Thursday October 6Chippendale Hotel.Double Ecstasyis out now on Anticon.
