Kevin Abstract

One Liner:  One of the main BROCKHAMPTON guys aiming for more singing and less rapping

Wikipedia Genre: Hip hop, pop, R&B, alternative rock

Home: L.A. (via Corpus Christi and San Marcos)

Poster Position: 7
Both Weekends.
Sunday at 5:45.

IHG Stage.

Thoughts:   Man, when BROCKHAMPTON came through the fest a few years ago I was ALL IN on that thing.  Saw them both weekends, did the Stubb's show in the middle, devoured that one main album.  Loved it.  So, this can sound a lot like that stuff, in that Abstract was a founding member and one of the main voices in that mix.  Unfortunately, that means you get a lot of the bits that held Brockhampton back for me - the emo-ish singing stuff never clicked for me the way that the straight rap pieces did.

He was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, but was not close to his mother at all.  He mentions this sometimes in his lyrics, but he ran away from home as he started to understand his sexuality, ending up in Georgia with his sister at age 15.  When he was 13, he posted to an internet forum called KanyeToThe, a fan site dedicated to Kanye West, asking if people out there wanted to make a band.  From that, he formed a collective known as AliveSinceForever, which later birthed Brockhampton in San Marcos.  The group soon moved to L.A. and started throwing out those Saturation albums (as well as doing all of their wild videos and producing and everything else - they were pretty cool there for a minute).  But by 2022, the group announced an indefinite hiatus and went their separate ways.

On his solo thing, he has been releasing singles on his own since 2015, and his albums were landing in the midst of the Brockhampton thing.  He has three - 2016's American Boyfriend: A Suburban Love Story, 2019's Arizona Baby, and 2023's Blanket.  His most popular track, by a ton, is from that 2019 album and sounds very much like the Brockhampton style with a little rap, a little singing, and a strangely pretty beat.  "Peach" has 203.7 million streams.

I guess it even features the Brockhampton guys in there, now that I see the video.  Hard to see the difference, just that he claimed it for himself.  I am sure that is a hard line to draw in a big collective like that, where you decide which idea you want to give to the group and which one you want to keep for yourself.  On the same album, "Georgia" sounds like he is channeling ANDRE3000.  His most recent single features Lil Nas X, called "Tennessee," but it hasn't exploded like you'd expect from a LNX thing.  His second biggest track is from the debut album - "Empty" has 100.4 million streams.

That video was like a whole damn movie.  From the comments, it sounds like he really connects with a lot of people by being openly homosexual in a genre that usually craps all over homosexuality.  He is dating a Brockhampton stylist and seems to still be tied in with some of the group.  His list of influences is typically wide-ranging for someone who sounds like this - Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Lana Del Rey, Outkast, and Odd Future/Tyler, the Creator.  All of that checks out.

For me, I'd rather get the straight rap vibe songs that he has, and leave out the sing-song stuff.  But that has been true for me on so many other artists who may be considered similar.  Never got into Frank Ocean.  Never loved Tyler or Childish Gambino.  I'm a little bummed because I was excited to see a slice of Brockhampton back on it.  Oh well.