4AD home

SpaceGhostPurrp - Watch SpaceGhostPurrp's 4AD Session
SpaceGhostPurrp : Watch SpaceGhostPurrp's 4AD Session
16th August 2012

SpaceGhostPurrp is the latest artist to record a live performance as part of the label's ongoing 4AD Sessions series.

A recent addition to the roster, SpaceGhostPurrp put out Mysterious Phonk - a compilation of some of his early work and his first commercial release - back in June. Fleshing out most tracks and mastering them for the first time, he showed the wider world that not only was he worthy of the hype his early mixtapes had created, but was also primed for the bigger stage; "his singular sound gives the project a wonderful sense of cohesiveness and gels Purpp's vision together with a maturity beyond his young years." (HipHopDX)

Taking place in late Spring at Brooklyn Fire Proof in Williamsburg (an arts complex named to honour Brooklyn Fire Proof Sash and Door Company, a factory that had thrived at it’s location at the turn of the last century), this 4AD Session is the third to be shot by director Robert Semmer. Revisiting three tracks from Mysterious Phonk, the intention of the shoot was to capture an intimate portrait of an artist who to date has favoured a more low key profile. Taking cues from the shadowy intrigue of Purrp’s own Raider Klan collective, the rapper/producer is fore-grounded against a smoke-flecked backdrop, its monochrome intensity in-keeping with the claustrophobic nature of the music.

Addressing the camera directly with a compelling intensity, the fully mic’d room details his lucid, hypnotic verses. A flexible approach to language - both written and spoken - is key to Purrp's aesthetic and the session highlights his interest in phonetics, the sound of the words themselves as important as their meaning. The result is syrup-thick head music, that nods to hip hop fore fathers, but also leans against conventions to formulate his own murky universe. Consequently it's unlike any 4AD Session to date. Watch it below.

In other SpaceGhostPurrp news, an instrumental version of his debut album will be released later this month. Entitled Mysterious Phonk: The Instrumentals, it showcases the unique production that defines the producer as a standalone talent. Mysterious Phonk: The Instrumentals will be released digitally and on limited edition vinyl, and will be available in Europe exclusively through Boomkat. More details to follow next week.

SpaceGhostPurrp plays the Mad Decent Block Party in Chicago on 18th August.