Song You Need: Butcher Brown’s leather-smooth swing
thefader.comThe FADER’s “Songs You Need” are the tracks we can’t stop playing. Check back every day for new music and follow along on our Spotify playlist.
People have been rapping over jazz since long before hip-hop’s official birthday half a century ago. Still, what Richmond, Virginia quintet Butcher Brown achieve on their new song with Pink Siifu sounds completely fresh. “Eye Never Knew,” the fourth single from the band’s forthcoming album Solar Music, is a leather-smooth guided tour through a rip in spacetime, MCed not only by Siifu but also by master trumpeter Keyon Harrold, whose accents and inspired solos are essential to the vibe.
Read Next: B. Cool-Aid share new song “Wassup” Most important to the song’s anachronistic aura, though, are Siifu’s vocals, whispered and smoky as a secret, delivered in garbled trap cadences that sound like transmissions from another dimension. “Don’t let ’em get ya / Skipping death the best feeling,” he raps early on, panting like he’s just sprinted a mile but free-associating like he’s off three tabs. “Sippin’, Sinnin’ / Shawty forgive me / God forgive me / Allah get me.” “Eye Never Knew” comes with an animated lyric video, premiering today with The FADER.
Created by Chris Acosta and Concord, the clip contributes to the track’s trippy ethos, featuring a morphing 20-sided die, planetary vistas, futuristic cityscapes, alien clubs, and a reveler who looks suspiciously like Miley Cyrus.
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