Yung Lean, Thaiboy Digital
Recommended
This event is in the past
Fri., April 1, 7 p.m. 2016
Hawthorne Theatre
Hawthorne District (Portland)
$20 - $25
Rap music now has such a ubiquitous global influence that even a place as ghetto-removed as Scandinavia can produce something artistic and relevant within the genre. Swedish rapper Yung Lean and his fellow Sad Boys do exactly that by absorbing the drugged-out trap stylings of Gucci Mane and then replacing the cocaine packs and random violence with Arizona iced tea and complex emotional content. Add a bit of adolescent psychedelia, and the resulting sound is akin to slathering Kurt Cobain's introspective teen spirit with a pint of purple sizzurp. The auto-tune might at first seem borderline excessive, but when the effect meshes with Lean's lazy drawl, the resulting futuristic sheen swirls beautifully through Yung Gud and Yung Sherman's psycho-glacial productions. Between them and fellow isolationist MC Thaiboy Digital, a glorious depression is bound to rock Hawthorne Theatre tonight. CHRIS SUTTON