For his 13th birthday in 2005, Chuck Strangers was gifted Akai’s MPC2000, a bulky workstation immortalized by the likes of J Dilla, Kanye West, and DJ Shadow. Audio interfaces didn’t cost $100 the way they do now, and so, like any other adolescent who was obsessed with music and lacking the riches of favorite musicians, he programmed countless beats onto the machine in his free time, with zero idea how to actually get them out. It would be four years until a friend of his finally introduced him to FL Studio, but those four years - of creation, and a lot of it, purely for creation’s sake - remain indicative of a love for hip-hop that, though fairly tested, has never wavered. As time has created increasing room for overnight sensations and superstardom-via-paid-promotion, his relationship with his art has remained process-oriented, married to both lofty highs and inevitable lows. This tangled romance is the crux of A Forsaken Lover’s Plea, Chuck’s most comprehensive solo project since Consumers Park, his 2018 debut. The five years that have made up the interim time, not unlike the four years he spent making unheard beats, were teeming with hard-learned lessons, even if not all of those lessons are available on streaming. For one, he found that if he applied himself with patience and discipline, he’d be surprised at what he could accomplish: “It’s cliche,” he says, “but if you put in a bunch of reps, you’re going to get brolic.” Like muscle mass on a body, the reps manifest themselves in a distinctive bulkening, adding compelling new layers to his singular sound. Where Consumers Park remained steadfast in the 90s-borne, boombap ethos that forged him, A Forsaken Lover’s Plea sounds markedly lush, candid rhymes bolstered by a slew of guest producers - including The Alchemist, Animoss, and NV. Chuck’s own production feels current without ditching its previous homeliness, a seamless compliment to his honest, lived-in raps.

Description supplied by the event organiser.