Recently, in a seminar class on 20th century philosophy, the self-proclaimed “best boy band since One Direction” came to my mind and suddenly everything made sense. That boy-band was BROCKHAMPTON.
If you haven’t heard of BROCKHAMPTON yet, please take my hand, crawl out from under the boulder, and let me be the first to tell you a little about one of the best bands of our generation. Formed online, BROCKHAMPTON consists of 15 young adults mostly from Texas who make music, videos, and content of all types. Founding member, and blesser of catchy hooks, Kevin Abstract posted in an online forum asking if anyone wanted to start a band. He got a surprisingly large amount of responses, and after a couple years, new members and a revised band name, BROCKHAMPTON was formed. A couple notable members besides Kevin Abstract include Ameer Vann, Matt Champion, Dom McLennon, Russell “Joba” Boring and Merlyn Wood who all provide stellar lyrics and flow on each BROCKHAMPTON track. In addition, members like Romil Hemnani, Ashlan Grey, and Robert Ontenient provide production, engineering, photography, guitar, and social media management. Not everyone in BROCKHAMPTON makes their music and not everyone works behind the scenes, but everyone is involved in the message, the image and the purpose.
How does this band relate to my philosophy class? Well, as we were discussing light subjects like existentialism and ideological constructs in society, many of my classmates inspired me with their words. Existentialism usually gets a bad rap for being gloomy, nihilistic, and even sometimes scary. Given that the philosophy was popularized after World War II when so much of the world was disillusioned about the meaning of life and death, gloominess may not have been that unfair of an assumption. However, when really looking at the philosophy, at its core, it’s really just about taking responsibility for your life. You don’t like something about your life? Change it. Attach meaning to whatever you want and to nothing you don’t. Merely take responsibility for your choices and don’t hide behind arbitrary societal constructs or ideologies.
During the class, my inspiring friend, Serena Oduro, said that after she watched the movie La La Land, she wished that life could actually be that way—singing and dancing whenever you want. Then she realized, life can be that way; if you really want to break out in song and dance, you can. Social norms will tell you that it’s a little strange, and that normally people do not sing and dance randomly in the day, but the only person stopping you from doing that is you. If you want your life to be that way, then take responsibility for it and do it. Serena is completely correct: life can be any way you want it.
Again, you ask, how does this relate to a rapping boy band? Well, as I was listening to my classmates, I thought about who in this world is taking responsibility for their life and doing exactly what they want to do—I thought of BROCKHAMPTON. While I cannot confirm that the members of the band are thinking existentially, I can think of some reasons why I believe they are, whether they mean to or not.
BROCKHAMPTON defies norms in music in a lot of ways. While having a group of musicians making hip-hop music is not rare or new in any way, BROCKHAMPTON is innovating and paving a road no group has gone down before. What is so cool about this group is that more than half of them don’t care that they’re not directly in the limelight. The members who work behind the scenes are there because they love music, they love what they’re doing, and they’re good at it. They know they can contribute great work and create something larger than themselves. Sounds responsible to me.
Some of the members openly identify as LGBTQ, and a lot of the subject matter in their music revolves around that identity. We are just now getting to the point where LGBTQ artists, especially in hip-hop, feel as though they can openly talk about who they are. Although we still have a long way to go, this band of friends embraces their members for who they are and is transparent of that embrace in their music. They also defy the toxic masculinity norm that is pervasive in the hip-hop scene. Seeing the group interact, which is possible in interviews, music videos, and a full-length movie they released, you can tell that this group is close. They share closeness in a way that men are so often told they cannot. They’re close enough to joke and goof off, and then switch to speaking on important issues like masculinity, discrimination, and hubristic tendencies in the music industry. Listen to “GUMMY” and “QUEER” to hear BROCKHAMPTON talk about personal expectations and defying norms.
I’d say the average age of a BROCKHAMPTON member is 21. These are young people—young people who are probably not doing what they thought they would be doing when in high school. This group clearly does not care about the beaten path. They’re doing what they love and claiming full responsibility for that.
You know how sometimes an example is all you need to fully understand a concept? Weirdly enough, BROCKHAMPTON was the clarification I needed. This band popping into my head during my philosophy class was the example I needed to not only make sense of what I was learning, but to inspire me to bring the concepts into my own life. I challenge you to also be more like BROCKHAMPTON and take responsibility for your life in whatever form that may be. And listen to them. Now.
BROCKHAMPTON is coming to Seattle for two nights in March. Check those shows out here. Listen to BROCKHAMPTON here.
ERIN PHELPS | feelin’ saturated | KXSU Assistant Program Director
This article is extremely well written. I’m not who this author is, but she sure can connect with an audience!