Silk Animus: “Hot Vegetables” – aesthetically pleasing!
Is vaporwave or cloudrap a thing? It’s a term that’s plagued hype-fueled news articles for a few years now. Its existence is more relevant now than ever, and it can be found in some form on Silk Animus’ track, “Hot Vegetables”. Though Silk was obviously not the first person to experiment with the psychedelic, dreamlike aesthetic with heavy bass, he has cohesively conceptualized the sound here. It’s one whose sound and visual style is rooted in modern internet culture.
Critics and fans alike can agree on one thing; it’s fresh. It’s aesthetically pleasing, it’s layered, it’s new, it’s modern, it’s influenced by all the things deemed cool by this generation: ambient electronic music, sex, booze, marijuana culture, flashy clothes etc.
“Hot Vegetables” is drenched in a hazy beat, glittery synths, a slow to medium rhythm, and glitchy samples. The production is immaculate as well: cohesive, gorgeous, and compliments Silk’s flow greatly.
Despite mainstream rap still being fueled by EDM, pop influences and radio not giving this stuff the time of day, it‘s the furthest thing from Silk Animus’ mind, as he concentrates on releasing his stream of consciousness. Silk Animus has all the traits of being a product of the internet, an underground sensation with weird tendencies and a flamboyant sense of his craft.
In an age of radio-ready hip-pop, Silk Animus is hitting a creative peak and thinking outside of the box and putting that experimentalism at the forefront and succeeding. It’s not a masterpiece just yet, and it doesn’t need to be.
Silk is confidently at a point where he can consistently release creative music that will now be expected of him, and he’ll do fine. “Hot Vegetables” manages to be much more thoughtful than some of its predecessors, while also evoking a sense of surprise with all of its extremely lyrical moments.
In short, Silk Animus takes what made most of his catalog new or exciting and finely hones it. Most rappers tend to lose their capacity for innovation after a couple of releases, but thankfully this isn’t the case. Silk Animus has a bright future ahead of him – and hopefully a classic on the horizon.
There’s no ploy for a crossover hit, no awkward shoehorning into a EDM banger, or even a bloated collaboration featuring every underground blog-popular rapper to be found anywhere. Avoiding those trappings is a blessing since “Hot Vegetables” confirms that the he doesn’t need to do any of those things to be relevant or make an impression.
His only necessity is a producer like “_enter.name” who provides a sturdy framework to support the canvas on which Silk Animus paints his singular lyrical pictures.
OFFICIAL LINKS: BANDCAMP – SPOTIFY – INSTAGRAM – TWITTER
