Hunnid – Queen City Sounds and Art

Hunnid Hits Hard at the Persistent Issue of Police Brutality With “Hang On”

Hunnid_HangOn1_lg — Hunnid, photo courtesy the artist

The video for Hunnid’s latest single with Ceeno “Hang On” presents the issue of police brutality and murder of black people in a way that is vivid, hard, hitting and creative. Hunnid’s vocals are direct and commanding yet fluid as he lays out lines about how the experiences he’s had around that issue and through that issue have impacted his own psyche and that of people he knows in the way that only something like the possibility of being randomly killed by a cop who decides you might be an imminent threat purely because of your ethnicity and the neighborhood in which you might live. Or if you were in New York City while Michael Bloomberg was mayor one of over a thousand or two thousand black youths a month who were stopped and frisked for guns to with a one tenth of one percent success rate to justify a Gestapo-like policy. The more synth-y part of the beat of this song matches the heightened sense of emotional urgency of the words while the deep bass-infused middle emphasizes the heaviness of the situation that one would hope would be better with the higher level of scrutiny police brutality has received but about which not nearly enough has been done on a national level. Yet, Hunnid manages to have written this song in a way that is compelling and doesn’t downplay the subject of his song without it being a complete bummer, instead it draws attention to persistent and deadly social ill that shouldn’t be swept under the rug during election season. Watch the video for “Hang On” on YouTube and follow Hunnid at the links provided.

keepit1oo.com/home
soundcloud.com/hunnid-2
open.spotify.com/artist/2fA2gTgVlYNhArTuXvHwy0
youtube.com/channel/UCkIiLVOUS_yNjNPYMKTxq5A
twitter.com/Hunnid_CCG
facebook.com/HunnidCCG
instagram.com/hunnid_ccg

“Let Em Down” by Hunnid is Like a Focusing Mantra in Times of Great Adversity and Struggle

Hunnid_LetEmDown2_sm — Hunnid, photo courtesy the artist

Hunnid spits the lyrics of “Let Em Down” like he’s been running for miles but finding not his second but his third and even fifth wind because he can’t let himself falter out of concern for those for whom he feels the weight of great responsibility. So he repeats the refrain “Ain’t no way that Imma let ’em down, see my family dependent on me, ain’t no way that Imma let ’em down” like a focusing mantra to stay motivated even as life throws challenges and stumbling blocks his way. There is no bravado in these proclamations because it doesn’t feel like Hunnid is talking tough, he is talking himself up as a reminder that if he doesn’t make the effort no one else really will. Ignoring his discomfort and the effort and time it takes he needs to tell himself what needs to be done and his own motivation for persevering. Along with the vocals is a beat with kinetic percussion and a simple yet dynamic synth arpeggio and piano line that traces the outer edges of the mood. It is almost a counterpoint to the momentum of the vocal line but also the element of the song that can go outside the tight focus of the narrators vision and it is in the beat that the song can take a breath making the sense of mission running through the song possible. Listen to “Let Em Down” on Soundcloud and follow Hunnid at the links provided.

keepit1oo.com/home
soundcloud.com/hunnid-2
twitter.com/Hunnid_CCG
facebook.com/HunnidCCG
instagram.com/hunnid_ccg

It Took Hunnid an Epiphany “In Paris” to Appreciate How Far He’d Come as an Artist From Chicago’s East Side

Hunnid2_sm — Hunnid, photo courtesy the artist

Hunnid sets scenes for us on “In Paris” in his typically creative wordplay describing the environment and the vibe and the context of these mini-vignettes throughout the song. The beat and its layers of rhythm and electronic percussion and hazy synths with female vocals capturing a hushed, late night vibe as Hunnid looks out over the city from a terrace both admiring the “divine” sunsets that “focus the mind.” Hunnid reflects on the similarities and contrasting differences between Paris and the east side of Chicago. But he reminds himself not to take the experience for granted or to make too many comparisons. Rather he takes in the sites and appreciates how someone like him who encountered so much discouragement as an artist could be there performing his music except that this epiphany could have come to him in any city, it just happened to be in Paris. The song is interesting in that it mixes so many emotions and ideas together in a small space but says much about how so many of us have to grind so long and so often than we find it hard to enjoy our accomplishments when they come but that we need to no matter when that moment strikes and if it does so in an artistic and cultural world capital like Paris, that’s just the icing. Listen to “In Paris” on Soundcloud and follow Hunnid at the links provided.

Hunnid Evokes the Spirit of Chicago’s Southside in “Drip Too Hard”

Hunnid1_sm — Hunnid, photo courtesy the artist

With a relentless flow of references and imagery, “Drip Too Hard (CCG Mix)” by Hunnid draws for us in rich detail life coming up on the Chicago’s Southside. The gangs, the grind, the struggles, striving for self-improvement and ultimately keeping your head above water and the poetry that comes out of those experiences. The video for the song features Hunnid rapping with a brisk cadence and packing so much content into each line with an impressive economy. The insistent, dreamlike beat, a sample of warping guitar, shuffled claps and clicks like drum sticks on a wooden block, accents Hunnid’s storytelling perfectly. Throughout the song there isn’t some kind of tough pose, rather an attempt at preserving sensitivity and not being inured to hardship by becoming hard oneself. The music video is vibrant, urban scenery, graffiti and all, with Hunnid and his colleagues representing the kinds of people you might see every day in the Windy City. And of course a crane or two in the backdrop just like every rapidly gentrifying city of size in recent years. See the video below and check out Hunnid’s other musical adventures at the links following.