As the digital age continues to fast-track the growth of global urban culture, Africa’s hip-hop has gotten more ambitious and forward thinking. At the forefront of this movement is Patrickxxlee, who has been branded as the future of synth-based auto-tune based music. The 21-year-old Zambian-based South African rapper got signed by Lagos-based record label, Artis Records last year, where he released “Disco Utopia”, his first official project and EP.
This year, the rapper is shifting grounds with a new project aimed at cementing his stay as a firebrand for modern African music. This comes via the release of his debut album, ‘Diary of An Arsonist’. DOAA (for short) is an 18-track collection of sing-song and rap tracks filtered through loud heavy synths, hip-hop drums and punk-rock inspired guitar riffs. An ambitious combination for a rapper who simply dubs his genre of choice as hip-hop and rap.
Thematically, this is a romantic album at its core, but rock influences mean Patrickxxlee intentionally kept all of the rage and anger elicited from influencing genres like rock and alt-punk-rock. Album strong points like like “SNST BLVD”, “Love Is Rage” and “Lose My Life” are some of the tracks where this is exhibited expressly. Ultimately however, Patrickxxlee is a rapper and this is indeed a rap album, for hip-hop fans who will be looking to hear eloquent lyrics and witty puns, “Escape From Hell”, “Conscious”, and “Good Girl Gone Mad” are some of the tracks to check out.
Listen to PatrickxxLee’s “Diary Of An Arsonist” via SoundCloud here.
