The Case For Bladee
Examining a big player in Sweden’s weird rap culture.
If you’ve spent any time on the Internet talking about music, there’s a chance you’ve heard of Bladee or any of his crew. Coming from Sweden and heavily involved in the rap scene there, Bladee, and perhaps more popularly, Yung Lean, have created a new genre and style unto themselves.
Bladee and his crew grew up obsessively listening to American hip hop. Inspired but wanting to take it in their own direction, they slowed it down (a la Houston) and made it more emotional, dark, and cold. What came out of the amalgamation was Swedish rap, which runs directly opposite more popular niches such as trap.
Taken all together, they’re called sometimes called Sad Boys and also a part of an official group called Drain Gang. Drain Gang is not just a group. The musicians, artists, and producers associated are known for their unique style, with lots of bright colors and some sort of post-irony twist. Many of them are a part of the YEAR0001 label, a hub for the “drain” style of music.
While his close collaborator Yung Lean has managed to find his own lane into more widespread success, Bladee has stayed content with his style.
Bladee hardly ever stops releasing music, as much as those opposed to him would like him to stop. My first experience with his music was “Be Nice 2 Me,” which certainly deserves some credit for being unique. Uptempo beat and droning cadence, it’s certainly a new style. His style is not repeatable- if you took the same tools but gave them to a different artist, it’d turn out entirely differently. He is hyperpop but left in the freezing cold, a therapeutic way of processing his pain.
Your immediate reaction may be shock or confusion. Bladee less rides the beat, more just exists on it. His lyrics are in English, but at times incomprehensible. They are a mess of video game references, rap flexes, and deep sadness. Before you even figure out what’s going on, the song slows to a screwed-up crawl and stops.
After a few listens, it eventually clicks. Bladee is a master of style of mood. One look at his art, lens flares and all, and you all realize that this is part of a careful curation of image. For many, Bladee speaks on topics that are rarely heard of in mainstream hip hop. He speaks about mental illness and other subjects so naturally that his directness is appealing. His uniqueness and unwillingness to change despite his appearance are inspiring for a lot of fans. The reverb and autotune are vehicles to further his style.
It’s no secret that Bladee doesn’t have the best voice. He’s often lambasted for being past the benefits that autotune can provide. It’s almost cliché to make the comparison, but I see Bladee using autotune as comparable to Kanye West on Yeezus. Autotune is a further layer upon Bladee’s vocals and adds an extra dimension to Bladee’s performances. He sounds, again, despondent and detached.
The flex raps that are apparent in his a lot of music fall on deaf ears, there’s a level of pain here that Bladee is trying to root out. I don’t think it’s fair to outright label him as a bad performer- clearly, he is making a stylistic choice that suits him. The reverb and cavernous beats he constantly finds himself on add to this aesthetic.
Bladee’s producer whitearmor is also a huge part of his success as an artist. Whitearmor’s beats are strange, off-kilter. They are lo-fi but still have bombastic bass. They are hyperpop but created for hip hop by way of Clams Casino. Most times, they sound like something you would hear from a video game from another dimension.
So where is a good starting point with getting into Bladee? For me, it’s his surprise release from this year, The Fool. Truth be told, a lot of Bladee’s early music is very raw. There are ideas there, but a lot of it may be a hard sell if you’re not already into the style. Eversince and Gluee are other highlights from the earlier years of his music.
This year’s surprise release The Fool was a turning point for me. I am 100 percent in on the style now. Bladee has taken his twist on rap and added more pop stylings. Listening to a highlight, “Trendy,” it’s hard to believe that this guy’s voice is unbearable to some. He’s no pop star, and he never will be, but on The Fool, he sounds downright melodic.
Bladee won’t change, and his music may still be unapproachable to some. But, just like he says on “Trendy,”
No more pressure to pretend to be less than what I am…
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