Live Review: Lil Spacely wakes up the beast on '#CODE (feat. Tyrone & GRIIZZ)'

Halfway through the first verse of his raw new single, ‘#CODE’, LIL SPACELY proclaims that “You just woke up a beast from the basement” - and, you know what, it sounds like it too.  

Taking its production cues from Atlanta trap, ‘#CODE’ is yet another fantastically exciting, much-needed ripple in the new wave of Australia’s resurgent hip hop scene. But if ‘#CODE’ solidifies anything we know about Spacely from the handful of tracks he’s released thus far it’s that he isn’t content to simply ride this wave out. Instead, he’s stamping his own identity and brand on the wave with an unrelenting and hard-nosed aggressive energy that’s every bit as potent and fierce with its bite as the hardest hitting tracks off PUSHA-T’s DAYTONA.

This sort of intensity and attitude-soaked, aggressive posturing lends an authenticity to all his talk of how “Gangsters never die / We just multiply.” Not that you would ever doubt him though - his breathless flow, so full of gusto and intent, doesn’t leave space for doubt, sounding as if it’s teetering on the edge of exhaustion, as if he’s striving to embody the maxim that Lil Spacely is “All about the paper, I’m just getting work done, no time for no waste man.” It forces you into believing him, because he sounds like he means every. single. word; when he warns that “If I do a diss track / You won’t hear replies,” your heart fills with despair and dread for the charred, husked remains of the poor, bodied victim.

But it’s his ability to meld this mud-born aggression with radio-friendly hooks that’s the most impressive. Spacely first demonstrated this on his breakout debut single, ‘DopeBoy’, and deploys it again here with some considerable finesse by linking up with TYRONE, who through thick layers of Atlantan autotune croons: “I got what they like.” Once again, '#CODE' forces you to believe him - because he’s so right.

WORDS BY KYLE FENSOM

IMAGE: Supplied

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