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“Wahid’s unique reference points and experiences provide nuance and taste that sets him apart from either end of the spectrum.” — Pigeons & Planes
Orlando-based rapper Wahid releases his new EP, THEY ALL GO MAD!. Reflecting an ongoing quest to find peace and stability in a world riven with malice and flux, THEY ALL GO MAD! is thematically a partial extension from Wahid’s last release, feast, by ravens. Over eight tracks he presents windows-down anthems reverberating with atomic energy and pulverizing drums, dazzling aerial cadences and subtle moral clarity.
After the breakup of his vaunted nine-person collective, seeyousoon, Wahid found personal catharsis in creation. If feast was slightly experimental in its lyrical and production choices, THEY ALL GO MAD! revels in its confrontational sensibility. The first words on “GENESIS!,” the EP’s lead single, are “watch your step, kid.” A sly allusion to the opening salvo on Wu-Tang’s first hit, “Protect Ya Neck.” The intention is clear. No quarter will be offered. Wahid aims for the jugular, but he’s still got jokes. The beat from his long-time collaborator, Vitamn (who produced seven of the eight tracks) sounds somewhere between a celestial coronation and a lost outtake from Illadelph Halflife.
As a simple declaration of lust, “ILLUMINATED!” is effortlessly seductive. But on a purely musical level, Wahid nimbly levitates between dancehall toasts and red clay melodies rooted in sweat and soul. “MAD” finds Wahid at his most meditative, confessing to his own hurt and shame. With lurid evocative language, he ruminates on racial inequities, the South’s blood and soil legacy, and the betrayals in his own life. But from this “catacomb wasteland,” we hear the inextinguishable desire for redemption, and the possibility of transcendence – lord willing.
On the finale “GOOD GAME,” Wahid spits with his own neck-snapping new rap language. A psychedelic bricolage painted with meticulous precision. He conjures a landscape of stick ups and set affiliations. He’s chased by hellhound determination of Lucifer and buoyed by the spirit of ‘Pac. It’s the sound of a ticking time bomb, bristling with anger and astonishingly under control. A performance that leaves Wahid in the conversation of the best of this new generation of rising stars. This is what it sounds like when you’re ready to blow up.
Raised in Central Florida, Wahid was steeped in rocksteady, dancehall and reggae dubplates by his father, a Jamaican-born DJ. As a teenager, Wahid’s older brother exposed him to the classics of hip-hop’s second Golden Age. As he describes it: “Nas made me want to rap, listening to the GZA’s Liquid Swords made me good at it, and Black Thought helped me refine my skills.”
In another life, Wahid could’ve been the fifth member of TDE’s Black Hippy: a Swiss army knife capable of merging classic MC traditions with forward-thinking flows and melodies. With his double-time acrobatic patterns, he’s distinctly post-Kendrick Lamar and Lil Wayne – blessed with a novelist’s eye for minor detail and a virtuoso’s gift for ransacking hidden pockets of a beat. He can turn a warped post-Dilla instrumental to ashes with 16 bars and croon a plaintive falsetto wail on the hook that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Jeremih album. These vaunted gifts make THEY ALL GO MAD! the rare modern record that rewards careful listening.
Rising Florida rapper Wahid shares his new single “ILLUMINATED”, taken from his upcoming EP THEY ALL GO MAD!. Following his recent EP feast, by ravens, THEY ALL GO MAD! continues with Wahid’s gift in merging classic MC traditions with forward-thinking cadences and melodies. In his double-time acrobatic flows, he’s distinctly post-Kendrick Lamar, and Lil Wayne – blessed with a novelist’s eye for minor detail and a virtuoso’s gift for ransacking hidden pockets of a beat. He can turn a warped post-Dilla instrumental to ashes with 16 bars and croon a plaintive falsetto wail on the hook that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Jeremih album.
Speaking on his new single "ILLUMINATED!," Wahid shares, "This song probably has my favorite hook on the entire project. I loved how my producer Vitamn approached/wrote it. This song is just fun to me. It’s also piercing, lyrically. The verse I wrote on this was the first ‘I’m about to prove a point’ moment for this project. And that point is… no one can really f**k with me.”
Earlier this year saw the release of his EP, feast, by ravens, which saw him garner praise from Dazed’s Only Tracks You Need To Hear, COLORSxSTUDIOS, CLASH Magazine’s Astral Realm and landed him in Complex-Pigeons and Planes’ highly respected Best New Artists feature for their October edition.