Hip-hop is the greatest genre of all time, its ability to subtly evolve with every new release means every day there is a new genre being projected back to our ears, and the less present of us will completely miss these changes.
Neither the old heads, AI or cultural critics can predict where it’s going next. It’s this boundless creativity that is embodied throughout skaiwater’s short career, and contained within this ephemeral track; where our anguished narrator pleads with an amorphous love interest just before they get swallowed amid a mangled vocal sample and breathtaking orchestral string section.

skaiwater’s singular direction on this song is a further testament to the futurist potential of Hip-Hop alongside its ubiquitous heritage, pop’s composition bares similarities with the song structure of Bound 2, the auto-tuned vocals are derivative of Atlanta trap, but skaiwater takes a sonic detour here and incorporates Björk-isms most reminiscent from her Post album. Very divisive but isn’t all adventurous art? One person’s trash is another person’s avant-garde, and skaiwater isn’t just extending Hip-Hop’s artistic capabilities but also they are enriching the UK’s musical lexicon. There’s a talented rapper-singer-producer with a plethora of influences, a veteran’s ear married with a radicalism that only youth can bring, but amongst all of this is a sensibility for emotive hooks and melodies that we ignorantly attribute to pop singers.
Their first release of the year unfolds like a flower from sprout to ripening and is marked by moments of dynamic arrangement and an avant-garde approach to musical traditions. On first listen the blown-out 808s could be interpreted as the limitations of an amateur, but one thing I learnt from a lecturer was ‘if you hear a mistake in the final track, it’s not a mistake but a creative decision’. Long may these mistakes happen.
Check out the track below.
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