3k
Alright, let’s talk about 3k, this Melbourne crew whose EP has been a mainstay of my listening life these past seven days. Sure, not a long span of time but in terms of listening percentage we’re talking upwards of 80. They’re a… four piece? five now? I’m seeing Benny Lago, Beluga, Eissa, Moey but who’s Luka? I’m having trouble reconciling these to the press shots I’ve seen. 3k, if you’re reading this, drop into my DMs for some clarity and I’ll amend this thing. The standout track from their OPEN FOR BUSINESS EP is one called ‘HOME N AWAY’ that’s blessed with playful bars, sharp beats, woozy production and chorus which might as well just read ‘we love our mams’. Extremely cute, extremely thicc. Worth a squiz at this live version of the track where they’ve flipped it into something a lil smoother too.
It’s a nice parallel to Hokeh which has far fewer hard edges, padded with chimes and warm 808 samples. All these songs have one hat-tip or another to the cultural diversity of the outfit. That’s probably part of the reason why Brockhampton seems to be a common frame of reference for these blokus’. They’ve been working that deep Melbourne hip-hop communities over these past two years and this year I’m suggesting that things have taken a turn. Their second EP is the one where they’ve escalated, taken smiley crew energy and turned it a little more sinister, a little more focused.
I can’t write this without pointing you at something a little older, this signal of intent from early 2018 called ‘Woof!’, which I cannot move past for a whole swathe of reasons. It’s got so much colour and life and the lyrics are momentous, in particular the one from Beluga where he claims to have “never been in a car that’s parked”. Worth considering this, because this effectively amounts to the idea that Beluga enters and exits automobiles in motion. That’s a huge commitment to the claim and I’m stunned. Does he own his own vehicle? Does he have a chauffeur who’s become accustomed to his dismounts? An absolutely incredible lifestyle, gotta tip my hat to this sort of behaviour.
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