The niche rap scene has had many ups and downs this year with releases like Nettspend’s debut, BAFK [censored for obvious reasons], 2Hollis & Nate Sib’s Afraid collaboration, Osamason’s Jump Out album, and many more. Lucky for us, more music is still steadily coming for the underground. 2Hollis is a staple for anyone into hyperpop or electronic music, but as of recently, he has been leaning more towards the rap crowd. Personally, some of my favorite tracks by Hollis are unreleased, and lean into more of his alternative hyperpop we see on older tracks like “safety” or “cliche.” 2Hollis dropped his “Star” album on April fourth. The main question for me, and others, is have we lost 2Hollis to the same crowd we saw Ian get so popular with?
The album has 15 tracks, which collectively stretches over 38 minutes of absolutely amazing music. All of the tracks were, of course, written by Hollis. He also produced most of the songs on the album, the only differing tracks being 9 & 10. The other producers involved were Ojivolta and Jonah Abraham. He also used one sample, on the song “cope.” The sample is from the track “Heroes (We Could Be),” as performed by Alesso and Tove Lo. This album is quite possibly one of the best things I have heard in the last couple of years. My personal favorite tracks are “flash,’’ “destroy me,” “tell me,” “sidekick,” and “girl.”
2Hollis’ production always stands out no matter what he’s working on, but specifically on the song “flash.” “Flash” was one of the first demos I heard before the album “Star” actually dropped, and I immediately fell in love with the song. To be honest, the demo definitely stands out to me more than the polished and released track. However, let me be clear, this song is a masterpiece. His always unique composition that tells you a track was produced by Hollis is insanely well managed on this song. His sound is usually almost teetering on being overwhelming, but he does a really good job on getting things to work together on this track specifically. Overall, to me, this song is an easy 10. I love the outro, it 100% reminds me of his roots. I also adore most of the outros on this album, I think they add a very nice creative touch.
“Destroy me” is the next song I’d like to speak on. This song was my absolute favorite during my first listen of the album, but since then has gotten relatively overplayed after the track was included in the new Skate 4 soundtrack. 2Hollis has a rhythm on this song specifically that I love, specifically on verses three & four. In addition, the beat continuously switches in tempo which I really like. “Tell me” is the fifth track on the album, and quite possibly in the top three songs of the entire release. The track is 3 minutes and 56 seconds long, and has a ridiculous amount of beat switches for the length. The opening verse is incredibly catchy, though the whole song has a sort of rhythm and speaking pattern that is super easy to get stuck in your head.
The last two songs on the album that really stood out to me are “girl,” and “sidekick.” When I originally listened to the album, I was quite frightened. I had seen all of 2Hollis’ recent features, and none of them were quite as experimental or as alternative as his old stuff, and originally “sidekick” almost confirmed those fears for me. Now, after listening to the entire album, I can fully appreciate how amazing “sidekick” is. “Girl” was one of the tracks that made me feel like Hollis is still in touch with his roots in a way that I really admire. I also love the way “girl’’ is so much more relaxed than the other tracks, Hollis is the king of variety in his releases, and has been since he started releasing.
“Star” is an actual masterpiece of an album. I was so excited for this drop and he did NOT disappoint (since he never really does anyway). I was going to include a segment here talking about “superstar,” which was the next planned release, but it’s currently unclear if he will be releasing the album. During an Instagram live, Hollis said “Superstar.. It might not be so super anymore.” I have no idea if that means it will be released with different expectations, or if the entire album is cancelled. Either way, I’m sure Hollis will not disappoint.
