You may already be familiar with Midwest collective thestand4rd by their individual accolades as four fast-rising creatives operating in the Minnesota area. Consisting of Spooky Black, Allan Kingdom, Bobby Raps and Psymun, forming a Hip-Hop/R&B dreamteam just seemed like the next logical step for the group of young producers/rappers/singers killing it in their respective fields.
16-year-old Spooky Black is probably the most well-known, drawing parallels with a young Frank Ocean lulled out on dangerous amounts of valium. His debut video, ‘Without U‘, generated well over a million views – a pretty big feat for a 15 year old from the Midwest. The track also caught the ear Grammy Award-winning producer Doc McKinney (of The Weeknd), a Minnesota native himself, who welcomed the collective into his Toronto-based studio to record their debut album.
The 11-track self-titled debut album is inescapably unique, blending experimental elements of R&B and hip-hop. Each artist’s distinctive style is absorbed into the music, creating a hot-pot of mellow electronics, ghostly falsettos and gritty raps that will certainly put them on the map worldwide. Listen to the whole album above and download it for FREE here.
Oh yeah, and DJ Khaled is a huge fan:
