J Appiah sings the Hackney gospel with "WYHG"
"Where's your heart gone?" asks J Appiah. Hailing from the Inner-London Borough of Hackney, this singer and songwriter pours out own in every song, and now he's trying to find another's. His lyrics typically talk about love, though in a more abstract and at times even tragical light than you would expect. His sound is anything but typical, however, and "WYHG" certainly proves it.
At first I wasn't sure what I was in for, the downtempo beat and its accompanying ghostly melodies reminded me a lot of Alternative east-coast Hip-Hop, but as the track opened up on itself a kaleidoscope of sounds and possibilities also grew. Appiah's vocals seem most influenced by R&B and soul, and the melodic elements are even highlighted by moments of intensity that are unmistakeably influenced by Rock and even American Gospel, in fact, if you tune your ears to it, I found that the Gospel elements can easily take over a lot of the track-
The relentless march across genres and serves to fulfill Appiah's promise of "Injecting blackness into Britpop and Hype Williams into Hackney", and the end result is an impressive gander across musical history that is an effusive love letter unto itself, but it is presented in such an organic way that I don't think it was Appiah's conscious choice to make this song come out like this, I think a result of his own tastes and influences inevitably surfacing through his own original vision. In a way, this reminds again of those alternative hip-hop vibes, as you would often overhear this overlap of influences in the samples used by artists like GZA and Del TFH, where they were crafting each song by using a collection of things they genuinely loved and represented something meaningful about them.
Circling back to the theme of writing love letters, This release comes packaged with a music video directed by Lloyd Wakefield, and it seems to write its own to J Appiah's beloved hometown, as the cinematography makes sure to give protagonism to the city lights and sights as well as him. The amusing usage of a fish-eye lens pays homage to a lot of videos (and general skate culture, I suppose) from the mid-90s and early 2000s.
All in all, "WYHG" is a refreshing perspective on the (umbrella) R&B genre, one that I am always glad to hear. It's great to know that innovation is always possible and constantly happening in ways so subtle and unexpected, that's a sure sign of a thriving and healthy scene. If this is your first J Appiah song, I'm sure it won't be the last.
Photo Credits:
Jordan Hakkak