Blush

About

When hip-hop supergroup BROCKHAMPTON broke up in 2022, they announced what was billed as the group’s final album; in reality, <i>The Family</i> functioned more like a solo album from founder and de facto leader Kevin Abstract, who helmed the project as its only vocalist. <i>Blanket</i>, the first solo Abstract album since BROCKHAMPTON’s breakup, arrived the following year, departing almost entirely from rap to wallow in moody indie rock and grunge. Two years later, its follow-up, <i>Blush</i>, feels like a full-circle moment: Here Abstract assumes more of a curatorial role, regularly ceding focus to a deep roster of collaborators, including former BROCKHAMPTON bandmates Ameer Vann, Romil Hemnani, and Kiko Merley, plus alt-rap heroes Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA and frequent collaborator Dominic Fike. The title doubles as the name of the loose collective of Houston-based musicians who appear across the album’s 18 tracks: Love Spells, roro, E Bleu, Makana XO, Truly Young, Diego, Drigo, DERBY, and Devan. Between grimy Texas boom-bap, alt-rock breakup ballads, and a Sublime-channeling ska jam (“Geezer”), it’s got the scope to take in all the lives Abstract has lived over the years.

via Apple Music