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Thursday, June 20, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS
As the old saying goes, the most
qualified person is not always the
best for the job. We’ve heard this for
much of our lives, whether it be in ref-
erence to getting an internship, a job,
a seat in a graduate program or, hell,
even a significant other. Someone can
have every accolade to their name, but
that doesn’t mean they’ll be the right
fit. Sometimes, it takes more than
just a shining résumé; some people
just have the “it” factor. It might be
their demeanor, attitude or specific
skill set, but when someone has the
“it” factor, it’s obvious. In the case of
D.C. rapper GoldLink, he has a knack
for finding the “it” factor, especially
when it comes from a singer or rapper
that still has a lot to prove.
For much of GoldLink’s career, he
has taken growing talent that has yet
to see the spotlight and made amaz-
ing music with them. Take his 2017
sleeper hit “Crew” for example. He
collaborated with Shy Glizzy, a rap-
per perpetually trapped at the brink
of breakout success, and Brent Faiyaz,
a silky-voiced newcomer still try-
ing to get his feet off the ground, and
together, they struck gold. Each man
brought their own unique panache to
the track, and this is credited to each
respective artist’s hunger and desire
to breakout. Now that GoldLink has
risen to a higher profile, it would make
sense for him to start seeking out big-
ger feature artists. Diaspora does see
bigger names hitting the tracklist,
however, Goldlink continues to put on
lesser-known talent.
Diaspora is an incredible collection
of songs steamed in GoldLink’s sound.
No one else sounds like him, and he
knows it. He leans into his nasally
voice and bouncy, seamless flow and
finds collaborators who will aug-
ment his sound without altering it. On
“Zulu Screams,” Diaspora’s energetic
lead single, GoldLink takes his dance-
able and electronics components and
fuses it with Maleek Berry’s afrobeats
touch. Berry, a world star who has yet
to break through to the U.S. main-
stream, proves to be a perfect fit on
the song. His joyous voice and exu-
berant production perfectly accent
GoldLink’s dance-influenced sound.
Berry puts his own unique touch on
the song, proving GoldLink’s ability to
get the best out of collaborators.
GoldLink further demonstrates
this ability with outstanding songs
like “Joke Ting” and “Rumble.” On
“Joke Ting,” guest feature Ari Pen-
Smith delivers an excellent hook
that matches and blends in with the
laid-back vibe of GoldLink’s delivery.
What’s more, she even matches the
tone of his braggadocious and slick-
talking verse. PenSmith flexes a little
bit with lines like, “‘Cause my whole
squad on swole, you don’t wanna get
involved / Get close, you might choke,
we ain’t on a joke ting,” which perfect-
ly drives GoldLink’s verse home. Fur-
ther, on “Rumble,” GoldLink brings
on DMV rapper Lil Nei as well as
Jackson Wang, solo artist and mem-
ber of Korean boy band GOT7, both
of whom bring lighthearted perfor-
mances to an already boisterous and
jovial track.
Despite the prominence of new-
comers on Diaspora, GoldLink also
performs without assistance. Tracks
like the reminiscent and chill “Tiff
Freestyle” and the frantic, dextrous
“Manic” both show that GoldLink
is more than capable of carrying a
song by himself. Surprisingly, how-
ever, GoldLink does also bring in a
few high-profile artists to collaborate
with him. Pusha T, Khalid and Tyler,
the Creator all make appearances,
but they aren’t just there to boost
streaming numbers. They were all
clearly chosen because GoldLink felt
that they were the most fit artist for
their respective songs and that no one
else could do it better than them. And
it’s true. Each artist has a great and
personality-filled performance, with
Khalid taking home the title of best
feature. Replace these artists and the
tracks wouldn’t have had the same
synergy and dynamicism.
With Diaspora, GoldLink tightens
the screws from his last release, At
What Cost. He crafts more enjoyable
songs, varies his flows and has better
beat selection. No song reaches the
heights of “Crew,” but he comes close
with both “Zulu Screams” and “U
Say.” What’s more, GoldLink proves
that his ability to find the perfect
artists to fit his songs is unmatched.
No feature is wasted, and no feature
is unwanted. Everyone involved in
the project delivers, but especially
the mastermind behind the project
himself, crafting an album that is
distinctly GoldLink.
‘Diaspora’ is a talent show
JIM WILSON
Daily Arts Writer
ALBUM REVIEW
NPR
Let’s start this gig off by stat-
ing the obvious: The meaning of
Pride Month has changed, or at
least expanded, drastically.
This short bit of gay dribble is
not a sound-off about how Adidas
shouldn’t be releasing a collec-
tion of rainbow colored sneak-
ers that may or may not stand to
benefit the community it seeks
to represent in any way what-
soever. There are reasons why
they should, there are reasons
why they shouldn’t, there are
things they could do to make it
feel less exploit-
ative and they’re
going to release
them anyway. Its
existence
serves
better as a barom-
eter of Pride and
its
relationship
to mass commer-
cialization
than
a lightning rod
for social critique
because,
to
be
honest, there are
too many of those
to keep track.
There is press
circulating the dauntingly fast-
paced, streetwear and sneaker-
focused section of the internet
detailing their choice to support
LGBTQ+ athletes (the other being
to quietly cut ties for a made-up
reason and hope nobody notic-
es). Articles covering it describe
the move as an obvious one, but
in effect congratulate them for
doing so. We as consumers are
unlikely to see, let alone pay any
real attention to, the seemingly
obligatory and phoned-in state-
ments given by mega-corpora-
tions during the month of June.
Yet, they manage to commu-
nicate something beyond their
own sentiments performed in the
name of self-interest — they rep-
resent the ill-matched marriage
between
social
progressivism
and our current market.
It’s fascinating and soul-goug-
ing to observe how companies
posture themselves, intention-
ally or not, as morally-upright
champions of discredited identi-
ties and communities. It’s also
very easy to look in the rearview
mirror, think about icons of queer
liberation like Crystal LaBeija or
Martha P. Johnson, and wonder
if all their strife amounted to
highly profitable identity badges
and not much else.
There are a lot of articles
detailing exactly how rainbow
capitalism works, how it spits on
what the first pride parades set
out to do. Detailing how vitally
important it is to support queer
creators, companies that actu-
ally
support
the
community
through and through and to be
able to discern them from hol-
low attempts at a
cash grab via color
gradient. If you’re
reading this one,
odds
are
you’re
already aware of
this concern (and
if not, feel free
to click on some
highlighted words
and get yourself
up to speed). The
truth is that there
is very little to say
that hasn’t already
been said in this
way,
and
Pride
Month continues to be treated
as an injection of capital during
a time of the year when sales are
normally down.
Markets prey on the margin-
alized, and it’s bigger than pride
packs or tank tops that say Make
America Gay Again on them. It’s
bigger than the consumer that
buys those products (really, buy
the shoes if you like them, you’re
not going to be sentenced to
eternal damnation over a pair of
Continental 80s). It’s bigger than
the companies that provide those
products, too — even the ones
coming from the most genuine
place and providing the greatest
amount of support are operat-
ing in an unethical market that
rewards all entities that adhere
to a fashionable, adulterated and
constantly shifting morality.
A word on Pride
amid capitalism
SAM KREMKE
Daily Arts Writer
STYLE NOTEBOOK
Read more at michigandaily.com
Diaspora
GoldLink
RCA Records
The meaning of
Pride Month has
changed, or at
least expanded,
drastically.