“Bernal Heights” was the closing song of the recent playlist Tunnelgazing Vol. 02, and it was a pleasant surprise to find there was a music video out there just as good as the song. For a cut that has an interesting medley aspect to it – going from winsome and idyllic to abruptly shifting urgent and sinister – the music video does an exceptional job of also capturing that shift by means of storyline and tone.
We have a mixed bag relationship with drones as a society, however, I can safely say when they are used to make really ambitious art, especially for challenging cinematography, it is usually a good thing. The music video is pretty unique for its use of panning aerial and tracking shots, as well as the sense of scale achieved by these big overhead shots. Some of the footage like the skateboard tracking were probably achieved from a vehicle with a tall vantage point, but those aerial shots of Los Angeles that were seamlessly incorporated into the overarching story, were certainly done with drones. The video’s best achievement is probably capturing the pride and nostalgia for Southside LA, where Duckwrth’s Jared Lee was born and raised. Much like Duckwrth’s contemporary Kendrick Lamar, the love letter captured through imagery and motion capture is fully realized and executed to great effect.
Now to a focus on the artist Duckwrth. “Bernal Heights” may be one of his best tracks, and certainly one of his most personal and sincere, yet it is not a good showcase of his wide-ranging and eclectic style – this song really is an outlier in tone. It is, however, right in his wheelhouse when it comes to material that makes rapid shifts is genre, tone, or style in the middle of a song, or within the album. Although Duckwrth is a homebase type of artist doing well to represent the California sound (and LA specifically), he is also notable for branching out within Rap/Hip-Hop as well as the greater realm of R&B to evolve a varied sound. His interplay between genres is what makes him a true chameleon, having the effect of making the music almost manic when taken in the context of the primary genres he plays with, which are also changing and being re-defined at an ever-quickening pace.
The casual groove-based Hip-Hop most associated with the West Coast may be evident in a lot of his music, however, the eclectic influences were clear from early on. Some of Lee’s first work was with a group called The Kickdrums, who released an excellent album in 2015 called Nowhere. Some would say that album vacillated between the coasts, being unprejudiced when it came to making something that didn’t sound particular to a region. Some would also argue the sound had more identifiers with East Coast and Mid Coast America (Kanye’s Chi-Town production being something most likely embraced with the detailed textures in production) than with West Coast. There’s a stark East Coast feel, with big brash samples and NYC urban chic, called upon nearly as much if not more than the glittery guitar Funk and laid back California Soul of his hometown. The album Nowhere was a really strong release for a bunch of young guys who seemed to have a command of the production of an album beyond their years. Tracks like “Psycho”, “Naruto”, and “Magic Bullet” are really strong tracks that have a gritty, abrasive mood carried forth by a complex and adroit studio vision.
It wasn’t until Lee’s proper solo debut release I’m Uugly (2016) that you could see how much eclecticism would be a calling card in his sound. As a very short-playing LP, I’m Uugly gave us a groove that wasn’t as apparent when he was with The Kickdrums (except for a couple songs like “Lambo Pt. 1”, which is a standout from the under-praised album). A track like “LOWRIDR” has a sheen to it where flashes of Michael Jackson or Prince are evident, and the rest of the album continues with an undercurrent of Funk, however, still directed towards a style that vacillates between the melodic and an abrasive cacophony. Take the last song “RUUUN”, for example; this song is the epitome of the Duckwrth we’ve come to know, switching between smooth and harsh on a dime, jumping between two moods with a playful glee. The track kicks-off with a blissful little Funk ditty eerily reminiscent of Pharrell, then cuts into a rager with sirens and screaming at random points throughout, creating a jarring yet intriguing quality.
In retrospect, a song like “RUUUN” would come to embody a Duckwrth trademark. However, what may set him apart from his peers is his interest in the industrial noise that harken back to late 90’s and early 00’s Rap. You can see him embracing a raucous din with a song like “Start a Riot”, his most popular track to date (close to 50 million listens on Spotify) produced for the stellar soundtrack of the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (2018).
https://youtu.be/Wb4LmDpNz4E
“Start a Riot” is a bold and brash track as much a mosh pit as it is Rap. Duckwrth isn’t the first to add Heavy Metal, Punk, and other less rhythmic elements into Rap and Hip-Hop, I mean, we saw the rise of Rapcore in the late 90’s when Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Kid Rock were topping the popular music charts for some inexplicable reason. The world seems to look back on those years as something dubious, or wave it all away much like the spandex, big hair, make-up, and cod-pieces of 80’s Metal. And yet “Rapcore” was an important chapter in popular music that wouldn’t die a quick and abrupt death. In fact, it didn’t reach its verifiable apex until Linkin’ Park and their mega-successful albums Hybrid Theory (2000) and Meteora (2003). The crossover of Rock, Metal, Rap, and Hip-Hop has stayed present if not prevalent, in the sounds of many Hip-Hop and Rap artists since that time. Mos Def’s The New Danger (2004) is one of the more notable and successful for mixing Rock elements in an album that was critically and commercially praised. Run the Jewels often incorporates a dark, industrial mood to the production, and a refreshing dose of uber-processed guitars. El-P is at the helm for much of the production duties, and I imagine a band like Rage Against the Machine, which is actually a really good Rap Rock / Rapcore band, influenced a great deal. “Legend Has It”, made famous by another 2018 superhero movie in Black Panther, is one of the finer examples of the Metal aesthetic.
For better or worse (but probably for better), this fusion has more recently become a more authentic and less accessible form. We don’t see the reprisal of bands like Korn or Slipknot or Limp Bizkit and that is probably a good thing. In true rebel fashion, artists like JPEGMAFIA and Death Grips have taken the Rap spine and added a healthy dose of reckless Punk and Metal to the proceedings. Both of these artist are absolutely fantastic, yet make their music in very different ways. However, it could be said the spirit of the music-making shares many qualities.
JPEGMAFIA, in particular, seems to be Duckwrth’s kindred spirit; both instill their music with this chaotic energy, shifting around on tracks like guys with ADHD fidgeting with their short attention spans.
After I’m Uugly, Duckwrth came back quickly with an effort on par with his debut. An Xtra Uugly Mixtape (2017) despite being labeled a “mixtape” is more focused and honed than I’m Uugly. The confidence in his production abilities was only heightened with this second release. He moves between so many disparate genres, either within songs or over the course of the album, with a comfortable ease. The juxtaposition of a track like “Xtra” with “Throwyoassout” sums it all up; the gritty guitar crunch, half Lenny Kravitz half Rage Against, on “Xtra” transitions to the danceable Funk elegance of “Throwyoassout” within the expanse of 46 seconds.
These COLORS Shows on YouTube are all absolutely fire, by the way…
After An Xtra Uugly Mixtape (2017), he basically re-worked the formula of that album for his third LP The Falling Man (2019). You can hear a development in Duckwrth’s sound where he clearly intends to make a more accessible, mainstream component without compromising the design of his album around the penchant eclecticism. He did that by maintaining a fidelity to the studio sound in lieu of his previous efforts which had a decidedly more DIY/grassroots feeling to how they were recorded. There’s that quintessential crispness to a studio album done with the best equipment, and the sound on this album absolutely displays a higher quality. One of the only gripes with Duckwrth’s releases up to this point is they are all short playing records, flirting with the line between EP and LP. Sometimes a succinct and powerful statement is impressive, other times it conveys a sense of half-baked, sporadic production. When switching between all the genres, styles, and moods like Duckwrth does, it can make the confines of the album feel small, almost claustrophobic. When you explore many themes and styles, you need a bit more space to explore, an expansiveness if you will. Some of the best albums of recent years have achieved cohesion despite all of the tone-shifts by using a long-playing format, such as Tyler the Creator’s Igor (2019) and SZA’s Ctrl (2017).
The best part of The Falling Man is its still as unpredictable, chameleon-esque as his past efforts, just with the added luster of the big studio sonics. Some of his best work, other than “Bernal Heights”, is on this album, and we’ll close this post by adding a couple of the songs from The Falling Man that best showcase the breadth and depth of Duckwrth’s music. “Soprano” does great to illuminate his ability to make unique song structures with tone shifts within, and “Nobody Falls” not only proves his budding notoriety within the ranks of R&B with all the featured players on the track, it also shows us he has been developing his singing chops to go along with the emcee – just listen to that falsetto!
