So 2016 is definitely a year of highly anticipated albums, we’re expecting bodies of work from Lady Gaga, Kanye, Rihanna, Zayn Malik, Drake, Vic Mensa, Frank Ocean and tonnes more. It’s fair to say we have opened the year with some rather brilliant gems, mostly in part to Kanye West and Future, however today also saw the release of Grimes’ video for Kill V Maim from her critically acclaimed 2015 album Art Angels (definitely one of the best from last year). Here are the first sonic tendencies of 2016. Enjoy!
First up, Future (the hardest working man in hip hop) delivered the Purple Reign mix tape. A 13-track collection, executive produced by his go-to collaborators Metro Boomin and DJ Esco, was released as a free download on Sunday morning. You can grab it here. Personal favourites include All Right, Drippin and Bye Bye, but the whole body of work is so beautifully cohesive.
Secondly, Kanye has already dropped two new tracks this year. The first being Real Friends and the second No More Parties in LA featuring Kendrick Lamar, which, let’s be real is a dream – with depth, current pop culture references and personal anecdotes (after all, we’re here for the live autobiography/artobiography of our future president). This is the first time the two have collaborated on a track and it is well worth the wait.
Finally, earlier today Grimes released the video for Kill V Maim. Self-directed, of course and set in the NY subway featuring herself as her vampire alter ego (don’t we all have one?). KVM is definitely one of the strongest “pop” tracks from the record and the video definitely does it justice. #VERSACEpromo