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Mixtape – Disco UtopiaArtiste – PatrickxxLeeProducer – PatrickxxLee Record Label – ARTIS Records (2016)
PatrickxxLee, recently made headlines for his work with Milli. The Zambian artist and producer singlehandedly produced Milli’s defiant mixtape, “Don’t Ask Me What happened”. A feature on the song ‘Jealous’, only gave a snippet of his abilities on the mic, but that didn’t linger for long, as he is out with a mixtape – “Disco Utopia”.
A proponent of new age rap subgenres and experimental fusion, the Johannesburg-raised rapper is embracing emergent and progressive sounds that just began to hit the shores of Africa via the works of ASAP Rocky, Main Attrakionz, Lil Yatchy and a young crop of rappers. He melds his sound with a dramatic, trappy, and sometimes picturesque production.
“Disco Utopia” is PatrickxxLee’s life and thoughts spilling into the mic in a raw, balanced and often unbridled form. There are exuberant throes of wild nights and fast living on ‘Dark Paradise’, wanderlust and all the cravings originates from elemental youthful restlessness on ‘Anywhere but here’, a deep wrestle with melancholy and a craving for a release to the joys of escapism on ‘Dirty dancing’.
His relationship and lack of one hits the spotlight on ‘Vainglorious’, as he goes through a punishing mental post-break up phase. But everything gets nostalgic as the EP closes out on a nostalgic note; a tribute to Kurt Cobain on the song ‘April 5, 1994’. Cobain’s appreciation holds sentimentalism for the young singer. He is one of his oldest and dearest influences.
Another victory on ‘Disco Utopia’ is the bravado inherent in the production. Complex and synth-heavy, with the 808s working to full capacity, and featuring ethereal, dreamlike beats with harmonization and a majestic, and abstracted end product. It is primarily due to this, that PatrickxxLee shines and keeps the dance floor working.
Rating: 3.5/5
1-Dull2-Boring2.5-Average3-Worth Checking Out3.5-Hot4-Smoking Hot4.5-Amazing5-Perfection