#skeptacore pt.3
The debut single from Hull based producer Rydercomes as the third part of his ‘skeptacore’ releases to TikTok and SoundCloud. These edits have recently been receiving wide spread virality with this particular one receiving over one million views on both TikTok and SoundCloud as well as over thirty thousand videos made with the track on TikTok.
The track takes the vocal from legendary British artist Skepta off of track twelve ‘Text Me Back’ from his 2016 Album ‘Konnichiwa.’ Ryder reimagines the track differently to the original gritty grime track. The track begins with a clean arpeggiated guitar pattern and a clean bass line which moves underneath it. The use of these instruments as apposed to the heavy bass synths and drums of the original gives the track a more personal touch. Despite the vocal performance from Skepta being a mirror from the original track a melancholier and more thought-provoking mood is created. In the background of the track, we have snippets of sung vocal lines as well as ambient noises. Ryder uses heavy reverb and delay across the track which gives the instrumental an ambient feel, one which is more akin to that of Brian Eno then a classic Skepta anthem. In the last thirty seconds of the two minutes thirty-nine track a drum grooves enters with a low pass filter giving the drums a lo-fi feel.
I think this track shows how a song can be recreated with a very different backing and have a completely different mood. The change in instrumentation give a powerful fresh new feel to the vocal performance. The collaboration between the upcoming Ryder and Skepta hints at a new wave for the UK hip-hop scene, one away from hard and aggressive tracks previously heard from the Grime MC Skepta.
Bibliography:
Buckle, B. (2023) ‘KEPTA RELEASES NEW EP “48 HOURS” IN COLLABORATION WITH RYDER’, mixmag, 24 November. Available at: https://mixmag.net/read/skepta-releases-new-ep-48-hours-with-producer-ryder-news (Accessed: 26 November 2023).
Rigotti, A. (2023) ‘Skepta shares new EP ’48 Hours’ with Ryder’, NME , 25 November. Available at: https://www.nme.com/news/music/skepta-shares-new-ep-48-hours-with-ryder-3548967 (Accessed: 26 November 2023).
Ryder, Skepta (2023) ‘#skeptacore pt.3’, Spotify [Preprint]. 2023 Big Smoke Records under exclusive licence to Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment . Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/1HAW56e0zz05phUnzuHF9E?si=9b088e0f364b4a90&nd=1&dlsi=793d7622589e4edb (Accessed: 26 November 2023).
Skepta (2016) ‘Text Me Back’, Spotify [Preprint]. 2016 Boy Better Know. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/2OKpV0BwfrTDR0afe4mDxA?si=58435176726c4f42&nd=1&dlsi=18fb3e84535d45cc (Accessed: 26 November 2023).