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On Real Life Thing, Sam connects new dots and bends genres with unheard style and instrumentation. New literary and musical discoveries seem to be constant for Sam but shades of Leonard Cohen, Prince, and Bjork peak out behind his new songs as well as the writings of Ariana Reines, John O’Donohue, and Edgar Allen Poe.
These songs are two examples of the recurring lyrical themes of life and death on this record. “Something clicked before I wrote these songs that put me in a place of wonder and confusion and bliss that I had never experienced before.” Some of the lyrics found on this record have been previously released in Sam’s debut book of poetry "Guidelines For Dying," which quickly sold out of its first print.
“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.
Serebii, the New Zealand-based composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist announces new album Dime out March 28, 2025 while releasing the first single, "Might As Well Be Watching."
Serebii explains the story behind first album single "Might As Well Be Watching" out today:
"Observation and involvement often come hand in hand, time and again I experience some form of conflict with feeling seen and heard, accepting that sometimes being in the background is the most natural place to be. I wrote this song towards the end of summer in 2023 in my home studio in Titirangi, Auckland, New Zealand, I finished mixing it in January 2024. I remember this being the first time I felt the urge to have strings on a record. I reached out to Arjuna Oakes who had just settled in London at the time, he circled back with some incredible charts and demo strings, he said.. you need to do this properly and get good string players. We reached out to Tom Broome who got together the right people and we went on to do the thing."
Dime is availabe for pre-order and "Might As Well Be Watching" is available for stream at this link.
Wahid shares “HEAT PRESS!” (Feat. Kim), following up the EP’s lead single “GENESIS!,” which he performed for On The Radar (up above). At the center of THEY ALL GO MAD! is the paradox that life is an act of faith, and true wisdom can be found by gambling on love or a creative pursuit. In eight tracks, Wahid presents windows-down anthems reverberating with atomic energy and pulverizing drums, dazzling aerial cadences and subtle moral clarity. Bangers, but suffused with a sense of a higher purpose. Anger deployed to righteous ends.
THEY ALL GO MAD! reflects an ongoing quest to find peace and stability in a world riven with malice and flux. It’s the partial extension of themes from his last release, feast, by ravens. In the fallout of the breakup of his vaunted nine-person collective, seeyousoon, creation led to personal catharsis. 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” 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.
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.”
Consider the Orlando rapper a radical traditionalist. In another life, he 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.
For more information, check out VENTS Magazine.
"Inspired largely by Abba & Leonard Cohen’s ‘Book of Longing’, No Magic is one of the first songs written in this batch of songs and became a kind of anchor for this record. Even with all the troubling themes this song addresses lyrically, it still carries itself as an upbeat ear worm and is a feel good type of song. After the track was finished, it felt slightly hallow still, so we decided to add on a layer of slap back delay over the whole song and that really felt like it took it into its right place. It almost feels a bit Big Star with that extra bit of muddiness. Initially wasn’t planned as a single, but in the end it felt like a song that should have a special highlight."