A few days ago, Loyle Carner the UK hiphop prodigy, awoke from his 2-year music hiatus to release ‘Hate’; an unfiltered stream of musical consciousness. Dropped with a self-shot video, 'Hate' takes a different path from the Loyle we knew in his first 2 albums. Diverging from gentle keys and Tom Misch's soothing voice, 'Hate' is a protest rather than a love ballad.
We are thrown into the deep end with a chopped vocal sample that’s intensified by an aggressive, unsyncopated drum beat. An ode to UK hiphop, Loyle takes a uniquely conversational tone with his flow, which plays out like poetry more than rap. As it builds, you begin to understand Loyle's mindset when writing the song: the heavy beats pared with his strained voice, convey a crowded mind and manic anger that steadily converges into hate. In this way, Loyle shows us the true art of music and poetry; to take unhelpful and daunting thoughts and harness them to progress a message.
Loyle covers topics like the police's persistence with racial prejudices to express his anger at society's lack of change. We also see a more vulnerable side to the South Londoner, where he shows hatred for ‘everything he ain't' and ‘everything he’s done', giving a window into some of his anxieties and self-doubts.
To Carner, hate is an emotion that has accumulated in his life and that he now struggles to compress. The overwhelming emotion that comes through is fear; particularly a fear of the unknown and a fear for others.
In the accompanying video, we follow Carner in the car as he listens to the song. As it builds, he becomes increasingly infatuated with hate. Arms grab him as more clones of the rapper appear, evoking an overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia - caused by his inner anger. It’s a striking juxtaposition with the setting of a late-night car journey, something people do to clear their mind rather than contaminate it.
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