Digital Media Concepts/BROCKHAMPTON

BROCKHAMPTON (Band)

BROCKHAMPTON

Brockhampton 2018
Origin	San Marcos, Texas, U.S.
Genre	Alternative Hip Hop, Rap, R&B
Years Active	2014-Present
Label	Question Everything, RCA
Website	http://brckhmptn.com/
Members	Kevin Abstract Merlyn Wood Joba Matt Champion Dom McLennon Bearface Romil Hemnani Jabari Manwa Kiko Merley Henock "HK" Sileshi Ashlan Grey Robert Ontenient Jon Nunes Kevin Doan
Past Members	Ameer Vann Rodney Tenor

BROCKHAMPTON is a musical group who call themselves an "all American boyband"[1] who formed in San Marcos, Texas in 2015[2]. The group rose to fame in 2017 with the help of their three albums titled SATURATION I which was released on June 9, 2017, SATURATION II on August 25, and SATURATION III on December 15. This Saturation trilogy is loosely based from their youtube show Billy Star, a story that follows the events of the main character Helmet Boy.[3] These three albums were praised by critics as it focused on different types of genres such as Hip-Hop, Alternative R&B, Pop, and Soul.

Group Formation

Kevin Abstract, one of the founding members of BROCKHAMPTON, in 2010 posted to the online forum KanyeToThe that was titled “Anybody wanna make a band?” [4] This post gained a some attention from people and would be the staple for the start of their group.

The band was first named Alice Since Forever which had about 30 members altogether. They released their first EP in 2013 named the ASF EP [5] but broke up in 2014, and instead decided to rebrand their name BROCKHAMPTON which consisted of 17 people such as, Kevin Abstract Ameer Vann, Merlyn Wood, Dom McLennon, Matt Champion, etc.

On March 24, 2016 they released their debute mixtape called All-American Trash, which had the group learning what worked and what didn't work for them. Eventually they decided if they wanted to start making even greater music they would have to work full-time, and the group all moved to LA.[6]

Kevin Abstract and Viceland

Kevin Abstract focused on some of his solo work and eventually released his album "American Boyfriend: A Suburban Love Story"[7] which was the beginning of the story of Billy Star. The album talks about Kevin Abstract's problems he has to be face while being gay and living in a conservative area where you don't feel accepted by people. The album received good reviews which made Kevin have a following.

The big following Kevin received took interest from the TV program Viceland and decided to give Kevin Abstract his own TV show. He used this opportunity to give BROCKHAMPTON an outlet and decided to have the show focus on the group itself. The show would appear on June 8, 2017 and would be called American Boyband.[8] The show consisted of eight episodes and showed the group and their process in making their debut album Saturation I.

SATURATION Trilogy and Rise To Fame

The release of the SATURATION Trilogy was the start of something big for the boyband. Critic reception from this album was praised upon since they are known to be very a very consistent group, even though they are constantly changing their sound. What critics love about them though is all the members have such unique personalities and portray themselves differently. Some examples include from Kevin Abstract who talks about his sexuality, family, and dreams, Ameer Vann who talks struggles with his past and drugs, Dom Mclennon who talks about his constant drive to reach the top of the music industry, Merlyn Wood who is shown to be something as simple as a "hype man" but it is shown he has hidden layers through him. The stories they tell are unfiltered and blunt which is what drives the narrative of the story.

This becomes interesting since they did all of this without signed to a record label and were completely independent. The group didn't have any money to go by as one of the group members says “They had no money,” their manager Kelly Clancy tells me. “Their diets consisted entirely of corner store stuff. We’d have morning meetings and dudes would be eating ice cream for breakfast.”[9]

It was certainly until a YouTuber by the name of Anthony Fantano, had released his review for SATURATION I that the group had started to gain more and more attraction[10] as he praised the album for its uniqueness. The group, as a special thanks to him, decide to put his name in one of their songs, ZIPPER.[11]

This huge following BROCKHAMPTON had gotten had proven how today it is possible to gain attraction towards their music by using the internet to help them, instead of signing with a record deal to help them gain more popularity.

External Links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mKLT3KGUFQ

https://www.thefader.com/2017/07/13/brockhampton-members-kevin-abstract-interview-saturation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlCFNmqaS3Y&t=98s

https://www.kanyetothe.com/forum/index.php?topic=51240.0

https://officialasf.bandcamp.com/

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22689-american-boyfriend-a-suburban-love-story/

https://www.viceland.com/en_us/topic/brockhampton

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/8465993/brockhampton-rise-hip-hop-boy-band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBHjkRZQbv8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lKl_YvTizw