By Kyle Petersen
Caleb Brown is a genuinely good frontman for the pop-punk/metalcore group Aim High. He’s got a convincingly nasal delivery, an acute sense of melody, and a compelling ability to create emotional cathartic lyrical moments. And the band is surprisingly suited to his more unorthodox influences, shifting from big pop-rock smarts to drum machine grooves or screamo excess as the muse calls for.
That being said, Brown as a solo artist (aka Calebjustcaleb) is perhaps an even more compelling figure. Since the rise of Lil Peep around 2017, there’s been a steadily more-accepted merging of emo-punk influences into contemporary hip-hop, running the gamut from the Soundcloud rap of Juice WRLD to the full pop-punk turn of Kenny Hoopla and Machine Gun Kelly. But there is not a more authentic occupier of this intersection of sounds than the emcee, singer and guitarist who fiercely calls the Rosewood neighborhood of Columbia home.
That creative spark is rife throughout the work of Aim High, but it becomes even sharper and exploratory in his solo releases. Last year’s EP Corrupt Harddrive EP is a prime example, a four-song release that used the building blocks of both pop-punk and alternative R&B almost interchangeably. His latest, Corrupt Harddrive 2, ups the ante by demonstrating all of the ways he’s capable of traversing the porous border between genres while showcasing his formidable rap skills.
From the pounding bruiser of an opener, “ENDLESS.corrupt.001,” Calebjustcaleb just feels like he’s on. While there’s also a touch of genuine emo to his efforts, his power here comes in how effortlessly he evinces the swagger of an MC who knows he has the bars to go toe to toe with anyone. On the second track, the lavishly named “Spacecoup Moshpit,” his full vision comes into focus, bouncing with delirious ab-libs and a sauntering flow over a Migos-style track seared with monster guitar riffs.
And even though you might expect some of the purer pop impulses to be the natural crossover points, Brown is trickier than that. His work both here and in Aim High shows a range that extends to metalcore and screamo on the rock side, and then alternative R&B and drill. But what’s most striking is how his persona is so fully realized as a composite of all of these influences. On “ADA,” for example, there’s a section of masterful wordplay that doubles as a character sketch: “Is he a psycho or psychedelic?/Got a good hood, I’m hella threaded/at the skate park, yeah I’m hella shredded/on an elevator or elevated/lived in the South my whole life, but I swear to god I ain’t ever sweated.
It’s hard not to get caught up in this music, both because of how much it feels like a nudge forward in the zeitgeist and how much command Brown has over the musical world he has created. Although on social media he referred to these as “old, unfinished songs” when he released them a few weeks ago, that dismissal feels more indicative of how artistically poised he is in this moment.
Read 5 Questions with Caleb Brown (aka Calebjustcaleb) →
The Beat is compiled weekly by Jasper Music Editor Kevin Oliver and will frequently include input from Jasper writers Kyle Petersen and Emily Moffitt in addition to Kevin's own regular contributions.