01. 4+4 - Johnny Wxlf

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Johnny Wxlf, the Kimberley based Alternative Hip Hop act has had a very fruitful year in terms of musical output. This year alone, he has dropped a collaborative extended play in the form of MMMMM Swayze with Vanity Of Man, he followed that up by dropping The Art Of Breathing Underwater. The latter was a brief claustrophobic record which earned its strength from its melancholic structure. Wxlf explains the project as a very tough time in his life, dealing with thoughts of suicide. The Art Of Breathing Underwater was a therapeutic escape for him.

Now its his third project this year in the form of 4+4, the EP is a moody body of work which opens up with the unorthodox Time Bomb. The song is textured and layered with a synth led by drums, snares and kicks. Wxlf hums throughout the song while he chants “I got time on my side, oh can’t you see”. He sounds like a laid back 80’s rock star. Rock n’ Roll has always been the best reference point for Johnny Wxlf, his music has always oozed the aura of Rock, through his drums and electric guitar sampling.

With his affection for sounding like a rock star, it often means that his music is everywhere. It sounds like an organised mess. I’ve picked up a usual theme with Johnny’s solo effort, putting aside the melancholic Art Of Breathing Underwater. His projects are loud and hard to digest for the first few listens, like Passive Aggressive Disorder, which was his debut release. His music is more of a grower and needs you to constantly pay attention. 4+4, is still sonically loud but he manages to strike a balance between his fetish for being a rock star, with the boy that tries to breathe underwater. Songs like KKKrown sees, Wxlf reflecting, on topics of trying to improve the quality of his life, the people around, knowing himself and what he wants. Johnny puts everything into perspective, at the same time he manages to rant “bitch don’t you know I’m a god”. On the song, Wxlf claims the K-word, even though he uses it once throughout the short song. Lone feature Orakill does use the word on Over as he has done in a lot of his solo work.

Rhythm Of Your Love is a love song, and it balances out KKKrown, it is a break from the partial emotional venting. “Take me to the rhythm of your love” he sings over the hook. Johnny has always proven to be a vessel of conscious emotions. So he never fears to let them breathe. Artistically, the Kimberley based music maker has always shown his flare but he spends little time rapping. On Bombay Dreams he does just that. It’s the best song on the album. Wxlf raps over simpler and less layered production, which sounds a lot more spacey. On the song he touches on how his mother almost lost their home in the process of recording the project. While at the same time his father was going through a divorce. Through all that, he managed to record 4+4, which is an ode to 4PM Movement and Royal Roots.

The project came out when Orakill suggested that Johnny drops the project since he has recorded enough songs to actually knit together a concise body of work. Orakill appears on Over. The project is where we really find Johnny rapping the most, it’s the perfect balance between all of his sounds, from rapping, to singing and sounding like a rock star. Stream and download.