The Dawn Of A New Age
In Hip-Hop
Rap music is changing. Styles are being invented almost as quickly as they are going out of fashion. Fans of the genre are now more-so than ever before seeking out the freshest and most innovative sounds. This means fierce competition between the flag-bearers of such
movements as they jostle for popularity and cult followings. One of these pioneers
is the originator of an exploding phenomenon which is taking the hip-hop world
by storm, and shows no signs of stopping. His name? Moon Man. His game? Fringe
Rap (so-called after the distinctive hair of the genre's main asset).
In his own words, Fringe Rap is "A movement, a collection of like-minded
people who got fed up of the way rap music was heading, so decided to go out
and change it for themselves rather than sit around and complain." Sounds
legit, but what can the public expect when listening to a fringe record? Well,
if you like a mixture of live instruments and zoned-out synths accompanying
some dope rhymes attached to some chilled out delivery, then this is the
sub-genre for you. The unusual name comes from "Just sitting in the studio
one day" according to Moon Man, "My mates were laughing at how
whenever I recorded, I had to flick my hair to see my lyrics, so they started
calling me the 'fringe rapper', and it just took off from there, just some
childish banter between a few mates, and now it's a whole movement."
Moon Man had a very successful 2011, attributed to the fact that: "Each
project I was just talking about what I wanted to talk about, and people loved
it, but the fact I put out three mixtapes in ten months let them see a lot of
me, and the consistency of the work rate paid off in a big way."
His rise to fame can be seen through examining the success of those 3 mixtapes.
The first, inventively named 'Tape One' received just over 1000 downloads in
it's first week of release in January, and had over 100 times that by the
following month. Just 9 months later, the third instalment of the series, 'Tape
Three' was downloaded over half a million times in two weeks. "I was like
"Wow, we really have something here!" and it was just because I was
reaching out to people like me," he explains, seeming incredibly
level-headed for a 17 year-old with music videos that get consistently over a
million views.
So what is next for the young MC? An album, apparently. "Bright Lights and
Odd Patterns coming out this summer! I'm so excited for it, the mixtapes were
cool, but this album is just bigger and better in every sense. I can't
wait" However, he is keeping his cards close to his chest when it comes to
revealing any more details, "I can say there will be big producers, and
big features, but I don't want to ruin the surprise, you'll see," as the
words fall from his mouth, a mischievous smile is casted on his face; signalling
that 2011 was just the beginning, and this year, no one is safe from Fringe
Rap… No one.
Grab quote: "Each project I was just talking about what I wanted to talk about, and people loved it..."
