“Dragonball Durag” is a body rolling slow jam with a subtle shout to his cat (it wouldn’t be a Thundercat album without one). On the former, he shuns blame: “Say you ain’t got time for games … just admit you don’t know what to do.” On the latter, he laments: “Nothing feels the same ‘cause there’s no one like you.” But like any Thundercat release, the album has comedic moments that lighten the mood. “Just need some sort of sun,” he yearns on “Lost In Space / Great Scott / 22-26.” Then on songs “King of the Hill” and “Unrequited Love,” Thundercat leans further into the breakup that partially fueled his evolution, looking inward and outward to assess how the whole thing dissolved.
This album strips the veneer and dives right into the anguish. Featuring Childish Gambino, Lil B, Ty Dolla $ign, and Zack Fox, it’s subdued and more mature than Drunk, which tackled adult themes through LOLs and tongue-in-cheek songwriting.
Thundercats go mac#
My girlfriend broke up with me, Mac died, I was forced to change.’ He said it was literally because of all those events happening to him that he felt differently.” As a result, It Is What It Is feels more serious than Thundercat’s previous LPs it contemplates personal losses from somewhere in the cosmos. Then he told me later on, he was like, ‘I couldn’t eat. “I saw him after a few weeks and he was just skinny and shi*t. He and Thundercat had become close friends in recent years, and others say Miller’s death was a catalyst for Thundercat changing his diet and getting sober. He was part of a cohort of musicians who gave Butterfly its lush jazz aesthetic.Ī different spirit looms over It Is What It Is, that of beloved rapper Mac Miller, who died in 2018 of an accidental drug overdose. Thundercat was a major player on the LP, producing or adding vocals and bass to 10 of its 16 songs. “This must be the end / Time to shed some skin.” A year later, Thundercat won a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Performance for his work on “These Walls,” one of several stellar tracks from Lamar’s groundbreaking sophomore album To Pimp a Butterfly. “Where’s this cold, dark place?” he sang from the imagined perspective of a soul in purgatory.
A 2015 EP, The Beyond / Where The Giants Roam, examined death from the void. The album’s closer, “A Message for Austin…,” was a somber goodbye to one of L.A.’s most promising musicians. The record’s latter half dwelled on his passing. But there was a dark cloud hanging above the album: before its completion, his friend and collaborator, pianist Austin Peralta, died of viral pneumonia aggravated by drugs and alcohol. His sophomore album, 2013’s Apocalypse, signaled his breakthrough: powered by the MDMA-loving ode “Oh Sheit It’s X,” Thundercat became a star in underground circles and a fave amongst crate-digging music nerds. Through songs like “For Love (I Come Your Friend)” and “Walkin’,” he came off like a new-age Jaco Pastorius, an emerging talent bringing light to an instrument meant to stay in the background. Thundercat then released his debut album, The Golden Age of Apocalypse, a lean, mostly instrumental set of rubbery funk jams and evocative jazz fusion. The genesis of Thundercat’s solo career dates back to 2010, to a song called “MmmHmm,” where he played bass and sang lead on one of Lotus’ most popular tracks. He said he would drink to the point where it wasn’t the same Steve. “He told me that the times I thought he was there, he said he was still blacked out.
“I was there around Drunk and he was literally drunk,” says friend, producer, and collaborator Mono/Poly. While the album found Thundercat navigating the absurdities of everyday life, it also provided a glimpse into the artist’s own challenges. I’d drink to be on the Space Needle right now.” It Is What It Is follows Thundercat’s 2017 album, Drunk, a whimsical LP that trekked through the ups, downs, and residual effects of drinking. I realized it was the same thing over and over and it was fun for a long time. Erykah used to say to me, ‘You’ll stop when you’re tired.’ And I got tired. “It doesn’t mean that you have to confess it over yourself, but it’s one of those things where, if you don’t do it, that’s what causes the poison to seep through you. “I had to acknowledge that I was an alcoholic,” Thundercat says. As he walks through the making of his cathartic fourth LP, It Is What It Is, he’s honest about the bumpy road leading up to it, and how addiction nearly derailed his life. But today this is a different Thundercat-he’s equally reflective, profound and optimistic.
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