Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment.
SURF
We had all jammed “Pusha Man” multiple times before we were ever able to see it live, being that Acid Rap came out over two years ago and had the Chicago kids who make up the Social Experiment on tour the better half of last year. Promoting LSD bigger than John Lennon could have had everyone tripping face at festivals with some Ugg-wearing-festie-hooper-chick next to you who thinks she’s seeing Kid Cudi on stage. But one must note that coinciding within the success of Acid Rap and furthering popularity of 10 Day, Chance the Rapper was cooking up an innovative live production with the “SoX” crew that had everyone at festivals and gigs across America somewhat puzzled when we finally socially experienced “The Social Experiment” and got something like The Roots but with more drugs and the theme to Arthur.
Chance the Rapper was everywhere, but through his rise to fame he seemed to take a backseat to what he had created; henceforth the artist name for upcoming project SURF being led by Donnie Trumpet. A lot had happened for this crew in just two years. Capitalizing on promotion of the “free music generation”, Chance and accompanying posy have never made a dime off of their studio work, releasing mix tapes prior to the surprise release of entirely free SURF on iTunes May 28th at midnight. All the hype that built around The Social Experiment had turned its sights towards this long awaited project that avoids prior expectations and presents itself with quite the humbled pace.
Throughout the entirety of SURF, the vibes are outrageously positive and even persuasive at times. Donnie Trumpet seems to lead his experiment with great ease and with hardly any rules, weaving in lullaby-esque raps and lackadaisical horns at times (“Just Wait”), and tribal, beach (almost Lion King) vibes with “Familiar”. “Nothing Came To Me” allots the listener an insight to just how laid back the Social Experiment’s approach here is, with a brass ensemble that plays around with clashing notes and simultaneous harmonies that just float along effortlessly.
The album cover attached to our gift of an album brought its own surprises. Considering that Taylor Bennett, Chance’s younger brother, had posted a pic a month prior to release with the caption “N-E day now” and the cover of a colorful Chance wearing a SoX bandana, hinting that this would more so be his third project. The big surprise upon arrival was how “quite the contrary” the cover was when it finally arrived: simply a message in a bottle on the sand in a clean black and white. Collaborative artists like the Social Experiment do few things without purpose, and after hearing SURF, we can all get a better idea as to why the change in cover. SURF is just that, a break from all the buzz and bright colors. The album rarely needs attention to be enjoyed, and has a way of insisting that we just let it ride, happily placed in our sub-conscious, guiding our vibes back towards the beach, a musical vacation of sorts.
Towards the end of the project, we are handed a trifecta of perfected chill tones. With “Questions” Jamilia Woods might just make you cry with her soft, angelic approach. Then comes “Something Came To Me”, a sequel to the albums A-side counterpart; less all over the place and more direct to the point featuring a steady beat and horns that resemble a commencement or celebration of some sort – like a toast to the good times. “Rememory” has Chance coming back to life spitting his usual fast-paced tongue-twisting nostalgia all over a ghostly phantom of a track, before Erykah Badu steps up to the welcoming collaborative platform to send us into “Sunday Candy”, in which the message can be clearly heard: “You better come on in this house, cause it’s gonna rain”. A place where everyone is welcome inside, safe from all the rain we are all trying to seek shelter from. That sounds like a vibe worth passing to me.
8.1
