Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Goldlink, Squaaash Club/RCA Records 2019.
Goldlink really made a name for himself with the success of his 2017 album At What Cost which received considerable critical acclaim.
Diaspora is his follow-up and it features collaborations with Tyler The Creator and a range of guest artists.
Three of the album’s 11 tracks have already been released as singles; Joke Ting featuring Ari PenSmith, U Say featuring Tyler The Creator and Jay Prince, and Zulu Screams featuring Maleek Berry and Bibi Bourelly.
The latest, and as yet unreleased, single Ridd was recently performed on The Late Show starring Jimmy Fallon as part of a medley to rave reviews and the album has already set the music press humming.
“Diaspora is already shaping up to be one of the best hip-hop records of the summer” – NPR
“Likely to be a live highlight this summer” – Consequence of Sound
“Diaspora is poised to travel the world” – The Ringer
Despite attempts to understand the hip-hop scene I’m still an outsider and probably always will be.
You could say I’m not fully initiated and literate and yet I still found quite a lot to like in this album.
There is tremendous variety to the tracks and a lot of musicality including melody.
There’s the hip-hop and rapped tracks like Cokewhite/Moscow which features Pusha T and Yard featuring WSTRN through to the Jazz infused bass lines of U Say featuring Tyler The Creator and Jay Prince.
Goldlink has been a regular visitor to Australia appearing at FOMO, Origin, and Beyond The Valley festivals in recent years and his singles feature on the Triple J play lists.
My grandson is a Tyler The Creator fan and he says that Goldlink is good.
He’s certainly hip-hop literate so I’ll take his word on it.
