Album Review: BROCKHAMPTON - GINGER
The self-proclaimed “hardest working boyband” has returned to releasing music with their long-awaited album GINGER. After what was a transitional period for the group musically and personally around the release of their previous project IRIDESCENCE, BROCKHAMPTON has returned to address some the controversies that could’ve easily torn them apart.
To fully appreciate the importance of this album, you need to be familiarised with BROCKHAMPTON as a group and with the drama they’ve collectively been through. The rap group formed after meeting on internet forum kanyetothe.com in 2015. Shortly after meeting, the group moved into a house together and started making music. The group took the internet and hip-hop community by storm after releasing the SATURATION Trilogy, which consisted of three outstanding albums within the same year (2017). After finding success, allegations of sexual misconduct came out against one of the group’s biggest members Ameer Vann. These allegations, along with other personal drama stemming from Vann, lead the rest of the group to elect to kick him out of the group. This sort of decision clearly wasn’t an easy one for the group, but in their mind, it had to be done. IRIDESCENCE, the first album of BROCKHAMPTON’s that came after the Vann incident, was chaotic and disjointed in many ways. It was evident that there was emotional pressure on the group, and they still needed time to process what they had been through. GINGER is the opposite of IRIDESCENCE in many ways, and it is a project about embracing those around you who are still there after shared trauma. This is an amazing project.
What makes BROCKHAMPTON special is getting to know the personalities of all of its members. Whether you prefer Joba, Matt Champion, Kevin Abstract, or Bearface most, every artist has a unique style to contribute, and collectively their stories are greater than the sum of their parts. Having what feels like a connection to this group after getting to know and love their music over the past years makes their emotional rawness throughout this project so powerful. Each member shares their experience over the last year, and each is different - Joba turning to religion, Dom still feeling resentment and anger for the person who betrayed him which comes to a tipping point during the bone-chilling ‘DEARLY DEPARTED’, or Matt Champion’s reservations to completely blame Ameer altogether. At the beginning of this album, even apparent in its opening lines, it’s clear that the group is lost, but by the end, they are embracing and thankful that they still have each other.
This album is forever going to be cemented as a defining moment in BROCKHAMPTON’s discography. While it isn’t the lightning in a bottle that the SATURATION Trilogy was, this album is powerful thematically while still providing countless catchy hooks, impressive instrumentation, and some of the best tracks I’ve heard in a long time, specifically ‘SUGAR’ which is just fantastic.
I really don’t know what there is to change about GINGER. It does exactly what it set out to do, and does so in glorious style. This is a must-listen.
Catch BROCKHAMPTON live at FOMO 2020.
Reviewed By: Frank Tremain