This year, Texan hip-hop “boy band,” Brockhampton has been carving their own lane in hip-hop. Founded by Kevin Abstract and company in 2012 the group released an EP in 2013 under a different name, and a mixtape in 2016. In June of this year, their debut studio album, Saturation, was well received. As the album title may have foreshadowed, it turns out Saturation is a trilogy, and Saturation II has been newly installed.

 

Hip-Hop groups change the dynamic of the album format. They tend to have less holding them together as a cohesive project, and usually more closely resemble a collection of singles, ranging from amazing to awful, each song practically able to exist in a bubble, independent from an album-arching theme. Saturation II is no different in this respect, and if it were not for some very clean and polished production, would feel exactly like a mixtape.

 

Brockhampton’s musical style is hard to pin down, and his best described via direct comparison to other successful artists. One member, Joba, sounds frequently like Justin Timberlake, specifically on the intro to “Tokyo,” later coming very close to a tonality widely associated with several Kendrick Lamar verses with his verse on “Sweet.” Another member, Matt Champion (again, on “Sweet”) could be identified as Mac Miller down to the cadence if the listener didn’t already know otherwise. Beyond the styles of individuals however is the beat composition. Songs like “Junky” mimic the west coast transitional style (or lack thereof) from verse instrumental to hook instrumental, while “Gummy” is the spitting image of wordy east coast rap. An example being The Underachievers, or any song with multiple members of Pro Era on it. Considering the group started in Texas, this kind of hybridized west/east sound makes sense geographically, but can come off as generic, rather than creatively neutral.

 

When an artist outputs a lot of music in a short span, odds are at least some songs be self-contained gems. Simplistic (but banging) tracks like “Gummy,” “Jello,” “Junky,” and “Sweet” all fall into a riskless kind of song construction (one where someone has a verse, then there’s a catchy hook, and somebody else has another verse, all the while during a bass heavy beat). “Fight,” however, stands apart as an exceptionally crafted track. Group member Ameer Vann provides a kind of soliloquy about growing up “in social studies, [he looked just like] one of them men who were locked in the chains, but not locked in the pen.” This experience as the ‘other’ is stressed musically by the middle-eastern guitar/sitar plucks in the background. After a brief reinforcing verse from Dom McLennon that mildly jabs Christianity, Merlyn Wood and Kevin Abstract are responsible for a near-screaming, visceral chorus, which takes Ameer’s introductory line – “my male role models drug dealers and thugs / my father learned how to solve problems with guns” – and connects glib law-breaking with the constant fear of possible prison time (suggested by, “but not locked in the pen”). One of the four iterating choral questions is, “who gonna be the gunner that I don’t trust,” forcing the perspective of the audience to shift to that of a thug, worried someone with rat him out, and giving an ugly voice to the paranoid violence therein. Regardless of relatability, “Fight” is the diamond in the rough as far as coherent song design is concerned.

 

In short, Saturation II, is a fun project, borrowing stylistically from a lot of contemporary hip-hop artists, which is inoffensive and crowd-pleasing. Although technically an album, the expectations of a mixtape are far more merciful and accurate when critiquing and describing this project. And like a mixtape, walks a fine line between supplying demand, and oversaturating the market.