In the past two years, rapper Azealia Banks has served up a masterclass in squandering hype. Alienating those who fell in love with '212' by picking internet scraps with anyone and everyone, while repeatedly pushing back the release of her fabled debut album 'Broke With Expensive Taste', she has found the likes of Iggy Azalea and Angel Haze muscling in on the playing field.
Although his behaviour has been considerably less objectionable, UK producer and singer Jai Paul too seems to have crumbled under the pressure of premature hype. A bizarre incident earlier this year apparently saw him 'go renegade' by leaking his own album and now there are a number of emerging artists, gunning for the 'sound of 2014' tag, producing music that seems to be influenced by his.
One such artist is UK singer/producer Ben Khan. The spidery guitar and breathy bedroom-soul vocals of Khan's track 'Eden' certainly recall Paul's 'Jasmine', and the inclusion of elephant-like blasts of horn seem in keeping with Paul's inventive approach to production.
Khan is pulling the ol' 'mystery identity' card, which has perhaps inevitably led some to speculate that he is in fact Jai Paul. Whatever the case, Khan is probably be a safer bet to have an album out in 2014 than Paul. Or Azealia Banks, for that matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment