Hollow Profit and Ben Beal’s collaboration, Birds & Bullets, serves as a masterful interplay of style, substance, and sound, making it a standout moment on Hollow Profit’s newly released album, CUIBONO?. The track, produced by 47 Quid, merges jazz’s smoky allure with hip-hop’s cerebral dexterity, weaving together a timeless soundscape that hits the sweet spot between old-school homage and forward-thinking execution.
The title, a clever play on Beal’s 2020 track Birds Aren’t Real and Hollow Profit’s alter ego Crimson Dot, sets the stage for the conceptual depth embedded in the song. There’s a meditative duality to the track, where both artists explore opposing yet complementary energies. Hollow Profit‘s introspective lyricism and alter-ego musings bring a sense of cryptic urgency, while Ben Beal’s verse adds poetic gravity, creating a natural ebb and flow between their deliveries. Together, they balance introspection and aggression, observation and action.
Sonically, Birds & Bullets is a marvel. The production, steeped in a rich, immersive jazz sample, provides a smokey atmosphere that swirls around the track, lending it an enigmatic, almost noir-like quality. The boom bap beat grounds the piece in a nostalgic, gritty hip-hop framework that will immediately resonate with fans of artists like MF DOOM and Wu-Tang Clan. The drums are textured yet understated, allowing the verses to take center stage while still driving the track forward with a hypnotic rhythm.
What truly elevates Birds & Bullets beyond a mere collaboration is the synergy between the two artists. Hollow Profit’s alter ego, Crimson Dot, serves as a lens through which he examines the world, and this philosophical self-awareness shines through in his wordplay. His verses are laced with complex rhyme schemes and sharp punchlines, creating moments that demand a closer listen. Ben Beal’s contributions are equally compelling, his delivery precise and poetic. Both artists possess an ability to craft intelligent constructs that go beyond surface-level rap tropes, which gives the track an empowering, almost existential quality. There’s an undeniable cohesion in their flows and themes, as if their verses were stitched from the same conceptual fabric.
However, the one critique worth mentioning is the song’s brevity. Just as we become fully immersed in its layered world, the track fades out, leaving a lingering desire for more. But this is only a minor flaw in the grand scheme, and fans can take solace in the fact that Hollow Profit’s CUIBONO? offers an entire album of similar artistic depth to dive into.
In terms of influence, Hollow Profit’s affinity for Kendrick Lamar’s introspective storytelling and MF DOOM’s intricate wordplay is palpable throughout. His influences serve not as crutches but as springboards, propelling his music into a realm of self-realized creativity. Ben Beal’s clear inspiration from DOOM also adds another layer of thoughtful complexity to the track, showcasing his ability to maneuver through a jazzy, intricate soundscape while still maintaining a sharp lyrical edge.
Overall, Birds & Bullets is an exciting blend of futurism and homage, a track that deftly balances jazz’s improvisational nature with hip-hop’s structured precision. The empowering tone of the lyrics, combined with the lush production, makes it a must-listen for fans of thought-provoking, genre-blurring music. The song might feel short, but it’s a potent reminder of the strength of collaboration and the beauty of brevity in music. Hollow Profit and Ben Beal complement each other perfectly, and with a track like this, they’re certain to capture the attention of both old-school hip-hop enthusiasts and new listeners alike. We have added the opus to our New Music Spotlight playlist, our TIMELESS playlist and our TRIPPY playlist!