Gold Soul Theory was the second song released released off of Broklyn duo The Underachievers’ debut mixtape, Indigoism. The beat, by Rich Flyer, features a super crafty use of the first few seconds of El Manana, by Gorillaz, chopped and repitched along with electronic drum arrangement. The mixtape was released for free download by Brainfeeder a year ago, on February 1st, 2013.
Context
Brainfeeder is a prominent LA-based label founded in 2008. It was founded by Flying Lotus, and comes out of the instrumental hip hop / idm scene developed at Low End Theory, a weekly club night and in its earlier days a sort of spiritual successor to Project Blowed. Brainfeeder’s roster is almost exclusively instrumental: The Underachievers are the second rap act they’ve signed; the first was producer/rapper Jeremiah Jae, from Chicago.
When they were signed, The Underachievers had only released two songs: So Devillish, and Gold Soul Theory. They come out of New York’s “Beast Coast” scene, a tight-knit community of artists including Flatbush Zombies, Joey Bada$$, and Pro Era. They grew up listening to “90s Hip Hop”, and think rap has been “going downhill” since around 2003. The Beast Coast is seen as an attempt to bring back the heyday of New York’s second golden age, with a specific nod to the Wu Tang.
When thinking about The Underachievers, it’s important to consider that their music is reactionary. They don’t like where they see hip hop as going, they signed to an electronic label with one really poorly promoted rapper on it, and released what could almost be called a concept mixtape, if there is such a thing. They’re actively pushing the idea that they’re “different.” Groupmember Issa Dash said in an interview that, “I stopped listening to rap personally around the age of 14. After that, it was just no more rap. I’m not into rap, really.”
Song
Like the rest of the mixtape, aptly called Indigoism, Gold Soul Theory deftly and sparingly appropriates the New Age pseudocsientifical concept of indigo children. According to Nancy Tappe, the originator of the concept, “In the early 1960’s Indigos were rare, perhaps only one in 5,000. Today, 95% of the population is Indigo.” They’re purported to be uncannily spiritual, intelligent, empathetic, and resistant to authority. Indigo children change the people and communities around them. Nancy goes on to say that, “Their task is to integrate mankind to one world through a globalization that moves beyond political or economic boundaries and beyond personal biases and prejudices.”
Some say this “indigo generation” is meant to bring about a new age. By calling themselves indigo children, The Underachievers tell us not only that they’re enlightened on a personal level, but that they’re transcendental rappers, bringing about a new age in hip hop.
Conclusion #youaskedforit
Personally, I like the song for the most part. I’m glad they didn’t fall into Joey Bada$$’s trap of claiming rap hasn’t been interesting or creative recently and then making some could-have-come-out-in-93 boom bap. To quote paraphrased Son Raw, whose authority I still haven’t really determined, “These guys sound like what rap in 2012 should sound like.”
They sound current, though, not future. I think it’s a little bit ridiculous for a pretty normal-sounding rapper to claim “new shit” with any sincerity since 2004 when cLOUDDEAD and The Weather came out. This especially holds in 2014 when the internet has allowed even weirder acts like Nnamdi Ogbonnaya or Ghostpoet or more postmodern stuff like Lil B The Based God, or, on the pop front, sonic innovators like Future or (lol) Kanye West.