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Kevin Abstract Shares 'Ghettobaby' EP On The Road To New Album

Kevin Abstract is sharing new music from his album <em>ARIZONA baby</em> in pieces.
Frazer Harrison
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Kevin Abstract is sharing new music from his album ARIZONA baby in pieces.

Kevin Abstract is in rapid-fire release mode. The Texas-born hip-hop artist is dropping a second trio of songs in a week's time on the road to a full length album.

The six-song Ghettobaby comes a week after ARIZONA baby, and includes all three tracks from that release. According to Abstract, there's a method behind this seemingly sporadic purge of new material. "ARIZONA baby is an album btw I'm just slowly releasing it over time," he explained to fans on social media.

On this new music, the de facto leader of hip-hop boy band BROCKHAMPTON admits he's been leaning into his own insecurities and festering faults in the year since his group catapulted in success. "I see worth in myself, I won't run away again / I'm prayin' for my friends, they prayin' this won't end / But I know it does, just like all things / In the end, it's just me and my mood swings," he raps in the early standout "Georgia."

Against a backdrop of calmly annihilating production — twinkling keys, sometimes a retching electric guitar — from Jack Antonoff and BROCKHAMPTON's Romil Hemnani, Abstract tries to find silver linings in his guilt and frustration. He teeters between doubt and hope with each turn of phrase.

"I wonder if Ameer think about me, or what he think about me / See when I think about me, I barely think about me / I think about the people that surround me, and how I let 'em down/ I'm doing that right now by even f****** talking about this," Abstract muses on "Corpus Christi," making reference to ex-BH member Ameer Vann. (Vann left the group in 2018 after being accused of sexual misconduct.)

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Sidney Madden is a reporter and editor for NPR Music. As someone who always gravitated towards the artforms of music, prose and dance to communicate, Madden entered the world of music journalism as a means to authentically marry her passions and platform marginalized voices who do the same.