Having found his voice on the internet, survived being labelled as a fad and taken his downbeat yet danceable tracks on the road, Yung Lean looks set to make 2015 a further success. The not-even-19 Swedish rapper has just announced a string of dates across Europe, including festival dates in Germany, Iceland and Sweden, plus a one-off London date at the Barbican on February 23rd.
The centre of arts once played host to the likes of Chilly Gonzales and Tricky, but was recently losing credibility. Yung Lean’s show at the venue suggests they’ve compromised to accommodate acts beyond classical theatre and travelling art shows.
Yung Lean arrives on our shores to perform tracks from his late 2014 album Unknown Memory. This release saw Lean further define the Sad Boys sound (with production handled by friends Yung Gud and Yung Sherman) and backed-up Lean’s remarks that there is nothing intrinsically sad about his output. The album saw Lean branch beyond his prior style, encompassing a guest feature from up-and-comer Travis Scott and a sprinkling of instrumental tracks to break up the Auto-Tune.
Last year also saw a number of releases by the Sad Boys crew beyond their spiritual leader. Thaiboy Digital dropped his Shield Gang mixtape, Bladee put out his Gluee album and producer Yung Gud released his Beautiful, Wonderful EP.
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Text Fin Murphy