[RH First Look] Barney Bones: “The Barney Bones EP”

Barney Bones

Barney Bones represents the turning of a tide on the West Coast, at least when it comes to hip-hop music. Kendrick Lamar at once gave resurgence to, and forever changed the sound of rap music that emanated from the left coast with his lyrically confounding, omnipresent tales of watching the violence that his predecessors had illustrated happen around him. On his debut project, fellow South Central native Barney Bones is the solution to the equation K Dot+soul beats=X. His flow is at once poetic while being abrasive enough to spike raised eyebrows and rewinds with ease, covering subject matter that deals with more than how many bands can make her dance. The album opens with Barney reeling from a reverie, rhyming “Last night I had dreams that turned into screams”. It is the sort of initial statement that instantly holds the rest of the track to a higher standard and shows a kind of self-realiztion of one’s own thoughts not often found until artists hit later years. The eclectic beats, ranging from ambient electro to heavy boom-bap call to mind an early Kid Cudi, furthermore when calling to mind Bones’ ability to look deep within. I caught up with the artist for a few quick questions about The Barney Bones EP, check out the Q+A, as well as the full album streaming and available for download on the following page.