There is a stark and irreconcilable disjunct between the experience of being a casual Brockhampton fan and the experience of being a Brockhampton fan. It’s the difference between admiring organized chaos and joining the collective consciousness— the frustration and sorrow— at the center of that chaos. Certain fans can rattle off each member’s name and quirks like they’re talking about cousins and siblings. They speak about the band members on a first-name basis. And Brockhampton, for their part, face this fandom with awe and generosity, expanding their nimbus around anyone hoping for a connection.
Being a Brockhampton fan means knowing family. You see the precise movements of each member’s verse, solo, chorus, and develop all sorts of arguments with your friends (other true fans) about who went hardest on “Gold” or “Hea.t” Being family also means setting aside the competitiveness and making it a conversation about each artist’s individual peaks, and how this has propelled the band’s collective growth.
Brockhampton has had to do some recalibrating to deal with the actions of Ameer Vann. Allegations of sexual and emotional abuse by more than one woman led to Vann's departure from the group, with the group's frontman, Kevin Abstract, revealing they'd all been lied to about the situation. Now the group is back on track to release a newly-titled album, The Best Years Of Our Lives, and just killed a performance last weekend at Osheaga. While there's no solid release date for The Best Years Of Our Live, we're taking this time to get better acquainted with the #bars that each rapping-member offers. If you want to know more about the other members of the group and what they do, check out this feature.
Take a look through the list. We decided to include Ameer Vann in the list, as it were, since he was at the time, a rapping-member of the group. Do not take this as approval or condoning of his actions.
Kevin Abstract, JUNKY
Kevin Abstract’s artistry is marked by honest self-reflection and, more profoundly, by a kind of patience you might call grace. “‘Why you always rap about being gay?’/ ‘Cause not enough niggas rap and be gay”. It’s not the affirmation of his sexuality that gives that line weight, it’s the way Kevin insists on the truth of himself. This verse is so insistent on digging into the implications of simply being, that Kevin would stand there patiently while the homophobes come and “cut [his] head off/ and [his] legs off,” if only for the grace— for the grace that arises in the struggle to face yourself.
Kevin Abstract's verse
I spit my heart out, lookin' out for my best interests
He gave me good head, peepin' out while the windows tinted
I speak in tongues and I arrive without a damn mention
It's kinda sick and I was born in 1996 and
1999 the only year that I remember
I slip through the cracks without havin' a damn temper
I bleach my hair because these bitches all about they bitchin'
I say shit when I rap and y'all niggas barely listen
I do the most for the culture, nigga, by just existing
Delete my tweets 'cause I'm ashamed of being a fuckin' Simpson
I told my mom I was gay, why the fuck she ain't listen?
I signed a pub deal and her opinion fuckin' disappearin'
I'm payin' bills for my sister and tryna fund her business
Is it homophobic to only hook up with straight niggas?
You know like closet niggas, masc-type?
Why don't you take that mask off?
That's the thought I had last night
"Why you always rap about bein' gay?"
'Cause not enough niggas rap and be gay
Where I come from, niggas get called "faggot" and killed
So I'ma get head from a nigga right here
And they can come and cut my head off and
And my legs off and
And I'ma still be a boss 'til my head gone, yeah
Joba, JOHNNY
At times Joba feels incidental to the Brockhampton project. His melodic contributions dwindle in the shadow of the other laconic band member, guitarist Bearface. And where Bearface’s seeming absence is really just a quiet, expansive melodic presence, even Joba’s louder, rapped verses are like whisper. His music speaks truth to the feeling that life can be unbearably embarrassing, a mess that makes you wish you weren’t here. You don’t want to be dead, but something that is not a living thing. On “JOHNNY” Joba elaborates on this, teetering at the edge of disappearing. In a deflated, reluctant voice he raps, “I was hardly in it, most of the time I’m hidden.”
Joba's verse
I'm a shithead son
And I'm bad at growing up
I'm a shithead son
And I'm bad at growing up
My life ain't been the same, since my dog died, since my girl left
I quit drinking and drugging and still can't get ahead
Been at a loss for words
It seems I'm destined to fall apart when I'm depressed
It's all a test, scream at God from my bedside
I glue my hands together, life's got me hog-tied
There's no applause in the game of life, I just bought a car
And a new house, here's the cost to prove it
I spin a little wheel when I'm feelin' moody
And that's like all the time, try not to mind the clock
Because my heart is ticking, I smoke a pack a day
And I wish I didn't, having some trouble quittin'
I have a couple vices, we had that show on Viceland
I was hardly in it, most the time I'm hidden
Anxious, impatient and always wanting something different
I hate the way I'm feeling, I'm sick of chasing feelings
Matt Champion, SISTER
Some of Brockhampton’s hardest, most menacing lyrics have been written by Matt Champion. On songs like "ZIPPER" it’s clear he’s ready to fight (though it’s not always clear with whom), and it’s these war chants that tend to bring live crowds to their peak hype. “SISTER” is addressed unambiguously. He’s going after fake, clout-chasing rappers trying to rip off their music and at the same time condemning the ladder-climbing corporate douchebags who are bumping his music while networking in their cubicles. This verse is an assault on the inauthentic phonies of mainstream and underground alike.
Matt Champion's verse
I see you peekin’ through bushes
And tryna get secret ingredients from us
I know that you do it 'cause you see us boomin'
Like C4 when you hit that detonator
Lucky-lucky on the elevator
Eat my dust, baby, I’ll see ya later
I could always call your bluff
You already said enough
Take a risk, bitch
Still sittin' on your ass, waitin' for a handout
Giving nothin', put your hands down
"Ooh, yeah, this for the culture!"
"Ooh, yeah, this important!"
Fuck off with that slang shit
Fuck off with that networking
Keep ya mouth where the money at
Merlyn Wood, MILK
“Hi, my name is Merlyn” is the most un-Merlyn Wood introduction you will ever hear. Usually he’s flailing his way into music videos and modulating his voice with the timbre of a Ghanese accent, bringing a more rounded energy to Brockhampton’s boisterous hype. In “MILK” Merlyn’s sticks to a bleak, plain spoken narrative that challenges the song’s upbeat production. He describes buying food stamps and feeling isolated being the only African on his college campus. Lines like these suggest that a bunch of friends sharing a small house in L.A. is as much an expression of familial love as a tragedy of their socioeconomic conditions.
Merlyn Wood's verse
Hi, my name is Merlyn, I just applied for food stamps
I just moved to California, with my boy band
Dropped out of a good school, hippies in my commune
I left 'fore the rent was due, used to want a briefcase
And a short commute, used to wanna sell coke
And whip an Audi coupe, crazy if I did that
Wouldn't be talking to you
Walking through the pit falls of a college student
Crazy how you get them letters and that make you feel accepted
Til you walking 'round the campus and you the only African
Nobody with passion, just cats that take direction well
Take acid trips to find themselves, well...
Dom McLennon, MILK
Arguably Brockhampton’s best rapper by the classic metrics of both flow and wordplay, Dom McLennon also has a preoccupation with absolution. “I’m looking for the motivation of smaller things,” is one of the most understated expressions of poetry rap has ever seen. His closing verse on “MILK” is an inventory of the small acts that make daily life more than ordinary. Insecurities, relationships with parents, minor love— to him, each of these is an experience worthy of sorrow and awe.
Dom McLennon's verse
I'm trying to look for motivation of smaller things
But baby steps to my atonement when I foster dreams
I've been told I'm too transparent with my thoughts sometimes
So I wrote songs until they pass, and I can fall in line
I fell apart the moment that you thought you found yourself
Cause I knew at that point, I couldn't be in the equation anymore
But moving on with open, broken hearts
Will show you everything you need to see about yourself to start moving forward
So many things I wanna say that I'm not sure need to be known
But everybody swears they fucking know me
So why, don't I lay every card I'm holding on the table?
At that point I wonder what they'd show me
I almost lost my father, still surreal for me to think about
Considering how many of my friends have lost theirs
I never know if what I'm saying is the right thing
If not, I'm ready more than ever for the crosshairs
It's all fair when it's not you
Some people have angels, what if only shadows follow you?
And all the ghosts inside that seem to hollow you
The branches of the weeping willow start to swallow you
And then you realize you're exactly where you're supposed to be
The horizon clears, you wipe the tears
And all the skeletons are ready for your story
Bearface, SUMMER
Solitude is at the center of every Brockhampton project. There are 14 members if you include the non-musicians, and even so the individuals that compose it can’t escape a sense of alienation and longing endemic to this generation. On Saturation II, Bearface is the band’s voice for directly confronting this feeling (like he does on All American Trash and Saturation I). “SUMMER” stands out among those album closers for its abstention, for the way Bearface confines his lyrics to just three lines before letting the instrumental melody speak to the longing.
Bearface's verse (1)
In the heat of the summer, oh
Yeah, yeah, mhm
You know that you should be my boy
Oh yes, you know
In the heat of the summer
You're so different from the rest
You know, you know, you know, oh-oh
You know that you should be my boy
Oh yes, you do
In the heat of the summer
You're so different from the rest
You know, you know, you know
Ameer Vann, HEAT
Ameer Vann is not in Brockhampton anymore. The allegations brought against him could not be ignored by the group, although they first took Ameer's side, somewhat, it seems other information came to light to make them believe otherwise. “HEAT” reminds us that the music we consume isn’t always made by good people, and that there is an inherent violence to the characters of this music. “HEAT” is painful and poignant because the darkness and the fundamental violence of celebrity fantasy that it describes would eventually overtake the real-life narrative of it’s creator.
Ameer Vann's verse
I got pipe dreams of crack rocks and stripper poles
Of fucking centerfolds
So I got secrets only me and all my niggas know
Of kicking in the doors
I’ll send a bitch to get ya, so don’t play fucking stupid
I know you got the product
'Cause I could smell the money, I could taste the weed
Give me somethin' or a body, only way I’ll leave
I love to watch 'em squirm, I love when bitches bleed
If she’s sucking on the barrel, you can’t hear her scream
So kiss the fucking carpet, this aggravated larson
And then I’m out the door, it’s monsters in your home
Black gloves, mask on, muzzle plated chrome