We previously featured Deepwise for sharing his intentional artistry with the consciously astute single, Slow Down, so when we heard that the artist was back with Keep On Dragging Me Down, we were curious to say the least, and couldn’t wait to immerse ourselves in his universe once again.
Keep On Dragging Me Down opens with a meditative frequency, expanding into a dimensional trip-hop meets hip-hop hybrid energy before Deepwise shares high-octane, intelligent prose. We appreciate the assertive and conscious nature of what Deepwise conveys.
His prose is laced with metaphors and his lived experience. Deepwise is a clearly self-realized artist who knows himself, but he is also aware of the systems around him. His approach is laced with comedy too, we particularly love the lyric, “Cos I’m kicking so much ass that my toes are getting bruised, so now I put my feet up after having gone to town, but my feet have to be on the ground to laugh at all these clowns…”
There is genius to what Deepwise shares, but also raw authenticity and an understanding that his uniqueness may be critiqued. In essence, he chooses peace in the face of people dragging him down.
Speaking on the release, Deepwise confesses, “Keep On Dragging Me Down is about the quiet exhaustion of constantly lifting others while feeling pulled under yourself. But rather than speak from anger, the track sits in the aftermath, the complicated relief of finally stepping back, setting boundaries, and choosing your own peace over endless obligation.”
For some context, Deepwise, who is now based in Las Vegas via Salt Lake City, blends golden-era lyricism with cloud-rap atmospherics, jazz and funk undertones, and electronic psychedelia to create a genre-fluid sound rooted in old-school hip-hop but shaped by a modern perspective. He is influenced by 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., OutKast, Logic, Tyler, the Creator, and MF DOOM. Fans of Buck 65 would also be able to vibe with his delivery.
We could imagine Keep On Dragging Me Down landing a sync placement in a movie like the Oscar-winning, One Battle After Another, or a TV show like The Day of the Jackal. Needless to say, we are in awe of what Deepwise is creating, and have added Keep On Dragging Me Down to our New Music Spotlight playlist, and our TIMELESS and TRIPPY playlists, whilst we continue to stream the instrumental version of the song, where we can really experience the intricacies of his production.