Yet BROCKHAMPTON is a boy band like, let’s say, an iPhone is a phone. Yes, it performs functions like playing shows and recording—the way that, yeah, obviously an iPhone makes phone calls. But then, the group produces its own music videos. And its own skit series. And its own merchandise.
BROCKHAMPTON is deceptively, profoundly more than its own designation. Really, the term “boy band” feels like an inside joke, or a tagline. It gives people an easy way to digest this group of songwriters, producers, creative directors, photographers, videographers, and thinkers. They do it all, they do it themselves, and their entire process is expertly streamlined. That’s what made the experience so unnerving: I was staring at the future.
Brockhampton for hypebeast magazine
what: a profile on BROCKHAMPTON—the California-based 'hip-hop' collective.
when: published april 2018. Photography by Ashlan Grey.
intro:
You won’t know true fear until you interview 14 people at once. I’m sitting in the green room at Irving Plaza before BROCKHAMPTON, the Los Angeles-based boy band, performs their second of three sold-out show in New York City. A loud crowd chant echoes up to our room—muted from the outside through walls of brick and steel. The floor vibrates, the hanging lights seem to sway above.
