Blxckie hinted at the release of a Clout Internet Boyz project in his latest EP ’THE4MULA’ released in October 2022. He rapped on the song ‘ronda’: “I see these lil niggas all on the internet doing it/ I’m like, ‘bro, we paved the way’/ Fuck it, I’m keeping it going, it’s Clout Internet, better watch for the muhfucking tape.”
‘Clout Internet Boyz Tape 2’ arrived on SoundCloud and YouTube while you were feasting on seven colours with your family on Christmas day. The tape fittingly contained 25 songs that feature the members of the South African SoundCloud rap pioneering crew, Blxckie, Leodaleo, Votron, Brawley, Alone and SoulKit. The latter handles a bulk of the production with some contributions from the likes of Herc Cut The Lights, Smurf Beatz, PhilmaManBeats, Blxckie and a few others.
’Tape 2’ is made up of 25 songs that act as a platform for the Durban crew to showcase their different colours, from potent trap slappers laced with hard raps and auto-tuned melodic bars which you were always gonna get much of, to an effortless overlap into other influences; like the R&B vocals and production of Leodaleo’s ‘Betray’ and ‘With You’ by Blxckie, Alone, Votron and Leodaleo; the lovey-dovey ‘Ngicela Usondele’ by Leodaleo and Garde is tasty progressive Afro-pop while Blxckie’s unique vocals make ‘Nu Pocket’, the tape’s intro.
‘Tape 2’’s lengthiness allows for a variety of permutations which also include solo joints; Blxckie floats on ’63 Norris Avenue’ and ‘Fruit Punch’, Votron drops melodic Zulu raps on ‘Fourteen’, a song in which he boastfully reflects on a period of his life, specifically the year 2014.
Alone’s approach on ‘Move’ takes a leaf from Nigeria’s Alté subgenre which incorporates Afrobeats’ bouncy rhythms into hip-hop textures and heavily processed vocals. One of the many songs you are likely to have on repeat.
Clout Internet Boyz is one of the most consistent crews in SA hip-hop, as they have been dropping projects consistently (their SoundCloud page tells the story), and one of their members, Blxckie is one of the biggest SA hip-hop artist of this generation. It’s dope to see him still rocking with his boys even though he’s all over the charts and is making and breaking records and rubbing shoulders with the greats.
Stream ‘Clout Internet Boyz Tape 2’ below:
