By Carissa Diaz
Staff Writer
Hip-hop is normally well-known for having a gritty urban sound with hard lyrics, but that’s not the case with artist Bas. He brings a new sound of techno and funky beats to the genre that is unique compared to the usual aggressiveness.
It’s been two years since we received the Dreamville artists’ last album which included mellow melodic music. The Jamaica, Queen’s artist was traveling on tour this summer, but still managed to give the fans, or as he would call them, Fiends, what they’ve been waiting for.
His third album “Milky Way” takes a different route including Afro-Caribbean and up-tempo beats into his songs. Its’ feel-good music makes you want to dance to the rhythm with songs like, “Sanufa” and “Spaceships + Rockets.”
In an interview with radio station Real 92.3, Bas expressed, “My music has always been musical, but I just felt like I could step it up on the drums, I had like a progression to make there from the last album to this one.”
The collaborations include the founder of Dreamville and Grammy-nominated artist, J. Cole and fellow Dreamville artist, Ari Lennox. The surprising collaboration was between Bas and Harlem’s native and A$AP Mob member, A$AP Ferg. Although they are both from New York, the two artists have different sounds.
A$AP Ferg’s gritty hip-hop voice flows surprisingly well with Bas’ soft, smooth rhythm on the first single “Boca Raton.” The drops of the beats during A$AP Ferg’s verse allows him to keep his original assertive, trap persona.
“Milky Way” starts off with Bas rapping about his blessings in life since his rap career took off with record label Dreamville. In “Icarus” featuring Ari Lennox, he speaks about how his life could have gone badly if he would have chosen a path of selling drugs instead of music. He keeps that same vibe on “Purge,” rapping about doing his best on his own and being the best artist he can be even though people don’t recognize it.
He raps, “A young legend fulfilling my dreams shattering ceilings.”
It also brings out the soft side of Bas where he speaks on relationships and finding someone that he enjoys being around. On tracks like the second single, “Tribe” featuring J. Cole and “PDA,” he expresses how he would leave the single life for someone because she has all the great qualities of a woman he wants. He goes on to rap about men acting as if they don’t want to be in love because it’s not manly enough.
Bas includes two monologues from movies and uses them as transitions to other tracks. The track “Great Ones” is from “A Bronx Tale” where a character is telling another character that, “You’re only allowed three great women in your lifetime.” The other one is “Infinity” from the movie “White Men Can’t Jump” where the couple is speaking about how much he loves her. The interludes flow smoothly into the tracks about love and relationships.
Bas is known for adding international sounds to hip-hop and that’s what makes this album work. “Milky Way” adds a new touch with techno and Afrobeat. Listening to this new sound is refreshing since we’ve gotten used to the typical aggressive hip-hop sounds.
