Our boys are back.

The ever-evolving, bodaciously introspective boyband has sped back onto the scene once again with their newest official project since their 2019 effort, GINGER. In their previous works, the band of brothers were healing their wounds from numerous fronts, and it showed in their lyricism and production. The band was in flux, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, at least not for their music. iridescence, the project before GINGER carried a sense of raw energy and experimentalism that we had yet to see from the boys, it was as if they’d taken their sound and shot a rocket launcher at it, all to see the beauty of the explosion. However, on ROADRUNNER, the boy are indeed back.

Reaching back into themselves to find the happy spark that gave their music not just the therapeutic aspects it had mastered, but also the fun, curious, exploratory boisterous sound that made us fall in love with them in the first place. This was where the perfect balance was struck, no need for a rocket launcher, just a light, a road, and your brothers.

Have fun reading our review of ROADRUNNER: New Light, New Machine! 😈

BUZZCUT (ft. Danny Brown)

Buzzcut strikes with the power of BOOGIE, and yet retains the boys’ GINGER era. With heavy 808s and a weird sounding siren, Kevin takes off on the opening verse, with memorable bar after memorable bar about worrying for his mother who came to visit him, almost getting jumped into a Latino gang for protection, and how platinum-selling, award-winning records will never take away the very real fact that he is a man of color in America, and he is not safe.

Running straight into the chorus after taking final aim at the justice system for having locked up his cousin for selling dime bags of weed, critiquing the marijuana laws of the country. Danny Brown cruises right in after the infamous “NOW GET THE F*CK OUT MY RIDE” and absolutely smashes his verse, sparing no time calling out the boys with accusations of normalcy and involuntary celibacy, before directly quoting and interpolating Nas’s verse, featured on Rawkwon’s 1995 track “Verbal Intercourse”.

Overall an incredibly solid track.

CHAIN ON (ft. JPEGMAFIA)

Chain On is as JPEGMAFIA x BROCKHAMPTON as it gets. To the point you could probably search up this same “type-beat” on Youtube and you wouldn’t find anything too far off. Nonetheless, no one does it better than the original, and boy do they do it. The DMV maestro Peggy spits an incredible verse caked with topics such as police brutality, and a desire for equality and unity. Dom Mclennon shines brightly after the Abstract led hook, speaking about social unrest centered around the treatment of African American individuals in America.

Fun fact this was paired with the track “fishbone” in a one-week release from the boyband’s Techincal Difficulties series.

COUNT ON ME (ft. A$AP Rocky, Ryan Beatty, & Shawn Mendes

Count On Me is an incredibly catchy and feel-good song, and that could literally be the end of the review for this song. However, despite the beautiful BROCKHAMPTON-standard production, the real beauty of this song comes from the lyrical emphasis and amazing hook.

Sung by band-favorite collaborator Ryan Beatty and Shawn Mendes. Yes, that Shawn Mendes. What makes this entire thing as insane as it should stem from a Kevin Abstract shout-out on the track “STAR” from the boys’ SATURATION III album.

“I don’t fuck with no white boys unless that nigga Shawn Mendes.” - Kevin Abstract, STAR - SAT III

BANKROLL (ft. A$AP ROCKY & A$AP FERG)

Whew, BANKROLL.

Let’s talk about BANKROLL, haha. This track has been in the boyband’s archives since their iridescence era, after having popped up in a promotional video for their iridescence album, originally featuring A$AP Rocky and Merlyn only. As the years passed, fans of the boys couldn’t get the infectious sample out of their head, and even went as far as to create their own renditions and iterations of the prolific teaser. BANKROLL also serves as the first collaboration between A$AP Mob and BROCKHAMPTON.

It wasn’t until the boyband’s 2020 Technical Difficulties run that fans would even get a glimpse of news about any form of a release on the band’s May Twitch live stream. This version of BANKROLL is much cleaner than the snippet and uses a more in-depth version of its predecessor’s production, with the inclusion of a smooth new half of the hook from Matt Champion, Merlyn gaining an entire new verse, and the most suprising of them all a hard opener from none other than A$AP Ferg.

Jabari also shines on the tail end of this track, utilizing his unique presets around his voice to give off a smooth finisher.

THE LIGHT

The Light is the fourth song on the album’s playlist and is without a doubt the heaviest track on the album, second only to its second half at the end of the project. With only JOBA and Kevin Abstract on the vocals, guitar-heavy production, and a lot to say, the two members take on very personal topics.

JOBA viscerally speaks about the unfortunate passing of his father at the hands of suicide and his subsequent mental health, as Kevin speaks about his strained family relationships and looks back on his childhood in Texas.

WINDOWS (ft. SoGone SoFlexy)

Our second favorite track on the LP, BROCKHAMPTON shine like no other on this track, being the first and only song in which every sngle vocal member is present. There are also uncredited vocals from Ryan Beatty on this track, as well as an amazing opener from SoGone SoFlexy a childhood friend of Kevin turned new signee to Video Store records, a label created by Abstract and BROCKHAMPTON engineer, Romil The ending by Bearface is a beautiful bow on the amazing gift this track is to the ears.

Ooh, and Jabari’s hook.

I’LL TAKE YOU ON (ft. Charlie Wilson)

I’LL TAKE YOU ON is an amazing pop song that showcases the band’s ability to pull off the other side of their chosen genre with almost masterful nostalgia. Charlie Wilson, an R&B godfather, is featured on the latter half of the song, reigning in a cozy, yet upbeat rollercoaster ride of a track. Below Romil speaks on how he was able to snag a feature from the legend in an interview with MTF Fresh Out

“It was a surreal moment […] My friend had been working with him, and I just asked him. Can you introduce me to Charlie Wilson? And he was kinda wanting to do it, so we sent him a song and he loved it, did his Charlie Wilson thing on it and it’s one my favorite songs in the album now. So awesome.” - Romil Hemnani, MTV Fresh Out

OLD NEWS (ft. Baird)

OLD NEWS features multi-instrumentalist and a Baltimore native, Baird. Jabari takes a more prominent role in this track and though it isn’t high up on our list of favorites it is still a solid body of work, with an infectious hook and a versatile array of verses from JOBA, Matt, and Merlyn, tackling issues ranging from failed relationships to lamented pasts.

WHAT’S THE OCCASION

When we played WHAT’S THE OCCASION, Eminem’s early discography came to mind. The boys really came out of their shell for this album, which makes sense considering they took two years on this one, a stark change in their form album-making with the likes of the SATURATION series being churned out within months of each other, and the eclectic iridescence being recorded, mixed, and mastered in only ten days. The ending of this track is absolutely amazing, as is most of the outros on ROADRUNNER.

WHEN I BALL

When I Ball is a feel good, get out of your house and take a drive type of song, with nostalgic and reminiscent verses from Dom about how incarceration affected his family and the conversations he would have with his mother in order for him to avoid anything of the sort, and from Matt who raps about his relationship with his family and how each individual one has affected him. Rex Orange County and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes are enlisted for the beautiful instrumental.

DON’T SHOOT UP THE PARTY

Our favorite. An absolute banger of a track, DON’T SHOOT UP THE PARTY invites that dark, playful G-Funk vibe BROCKHAMPTON has capitalized on in the past, with just a dash of maturity in the lyricism and tone of their current mindset. Kevin starts out with a callback to Miserable America in his ear-catching almost anthemic verse as well as the overall tone of the song. Lines addressing homophobia, racism, and gun violence seem to be his main focus on the track, with Matt and JOBA assist with their tumultuous additions, speaking on paranoia.

DEAR LORD

DEAR LORD is simple, and beautiful and BROCKHAMPTON’s first take at a purely gospel-esque song. Helmed by the collective’s in-house crooner, Bearface, the track follows as he literally prays over his friend [JOBA] following the suicide of his father. There are multiple singers on this track but Bearface is the main vocalist and shines like no other in his request to the lord.

THE LIGHT PT. II

THE LIGHT PT. II is the final song of the album’s main tracklist and serves as a second-half to its predecessor, THE LIGHT, above. This track is by far the heaviest of any other in their discography to date, with the only exception being DEARLY DEPARTED on their GINGER effort.

The song features only JOBA and Kevin once more, with Kevin opening this time. reminiscing introspectively about his childhood in Texas. JOBA comes through with one more soul-searching, and honestly heart-wrenching verse about his father, addressing him directly and questioning his choice to commit suicide, as well as reflecting on the impact it has had on him in life and death. An amazing and raw outro, fitting for an LP that mirrors its very essence to the core.

If you enjoyed this album and want to stay up to date with BROCKHAMPTON you can find them on Instagram, Twitter, and SoundCloud and be sure to listen to ROADRUNNER, NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE and let us know what you think. If you want to stay up to date with news and content coming from Nefarious Supply you can find us on Instagram, Twitter, and for our news letter you can sign up below.