There are more misfits and creatives in hip-hop than ever before. This shift has provided a whole new generation of successful sounds coming from the once closed-minded genre. Awful Records, a group of like-minded weirdos that have been quietly pushing the sounds of obscurity into more mainstream audiences is one group that embraces this change. The label has launched the careers of names like Playboi Carti and ABRA among others. And it seems KeithCharles is next.
"bulletproof" is from KeithCharles' recent i love you, but you already knew that EP that dropped on March 8th. The tightly-packed 3-song EP put the emotions—as well as creativity—of the 28-year-old rapper/producer on full display. While the rapper paints an honest picture about confronting his recent feelings for a girl, the visuals show a magician who is unable to draw any reaction from the crowd. The voice in KeithCharles' head (played by a questionably dirty sock puppet) is urging him to approach a girl; after all, he's bulletproof—he'll never get shot down. As the song and visuals play out, it turns out the dirty sock isn't as trustworthy as he thought it was, with the girl taking a nice chunk out off the rapper's heart when she shoots him down. The whole thing plays out like a nightmare, with the drunk and bleary visuals being matched by the woozy synths and playful delivery of the chorus that gives the song the majority of its character.
