IC BOI are a hip hop brother duo from Minneapolis, MN. The collective consists of Nissa and Alex Wolf III. Today we are checking out their new 9-track experimental album titled “Depression & Demons“. Full disclosure, this project is genuinely experimental.
This duo like to take hip hop and R&B beats, some of which are quite cool, and lace them with experimental vocal layers. The project, as a whole, felt kind of unfinished to me. Like it were a collection of freestyle song ideas. There are some cool moments in terms of experimenting with different flows and the production on tracks like “NAW FR.” were a nice addition. But the project still sounded lacklustre for me.
The biggest stand out was “NAW FR.” for it’s production (Dope sample) and what is a fairly catchy hook. “Senegal” was another notable piece of production on this tape. This is another catchy hook idea and the duo play with come cool flows in this track. Unfortunately, this song and much of this tape, fall down when it comes to lyrical content. A final standout for me was “Live In The Heart”. This song is not hip hop at all, but it works for them. A nice way to turn an experimental project into a real genre bender.
In closing, this is a genuinely experimental body of work. I found it a bit disjointed and lacking in real content. There were some cool concepts on here though. A couple of tracks that could be fleshed out and polished, perhaps some inspiration for future projects. But here’s the thing with experimental projects; just because it wasn’t for me, doesn’t mean you won’t love it. Check out IC BOI’s latest now and let them know what you think!
Score: 3/10