As one third of New York art collective Outfit 14A, DJANGO bears the responsibility of delivering the group’s musical output. As his first EP WIDE AWAKE demonstrates, he’s more than up to the task. Check the project out in full here.
The first thing that you’ll notice about DJANGO’s music is that his voice is an exemplary rap tool. He takes to the subtle autotune applied to his bars very well, it’s most successful when utilized during his slick hooks but it always sounds natural thanks to his naturally excellent vocal range. ‘Reset’ benefits from the rapper’s deeper cadence, the melodic on this track is truly superb and renders it arguably the strongest material here. This strength is furthered by the impressive emotional range of DJANGO’s performances: ‘Deep Within’ is an insight into an artist that truly comes from struggle and can convey that fact powerfully in his music. Assisted by the charismatic Arcuti, the rapper pushes his voice to its absolute limit and conjures a chilling tale of determination in the face of adversity.
It’s the EP’s title track that represents it the best, however. Aptly, this song kicks proceedings off with an infectious energy: the rapper’s full, vibrant vocals proving invaluable to the breakneck pace of the production. With each of its tracks adding a new aspect to DJANGO’s melodic menagerie, WIDE AWAKE proves to be a killer debut from the Harlem-born rapper. It is also worth mentioning that overall Outfit 14A are clearly a tightly-run, professionally-minded collective. Each member ensures that the group vision is delivered on, visual artist Em brings DJANGO’s colourful musical statements to life with gorgeous animations (a preview of which can be seen here) while manager Dizzway ties everything together to deliver the perfect package.
If you enjoy the sound of this project, definitely stay tuned to learn more about the group on both this blog and through their assuredly smart moves in the coming months. Keep up with the collective’s movements on their website.
– Chris (@108mics)
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