The word innovative is thrown around a lot in the music industry with countless artists being given this label over the years but it’s rare you come across an artist like Colby Lafayette that lives and breathes this word through his rebellious anti-pop sound. There’s an air of punk to his sonic identity with the unflinching raw passion his soundscape conveys whilst his unrivalled lyrical wit sees him being put up there with some of the modern great lyricists of our time, Kendrick Lamar to name just one. He’s a trailblazer, he branches out whilst others remain motionless and now we get a full EP of this expressive and downright bad-ass soundscape.
SO BAD is a reflective project that channels Lafayette’s own adolescence as he nostalgically looks back upon the naivety of his rebellious high school days with true to life lyricisms evoking a classic coming of age tale in the modern era. An array of thumping beats, gritty guitar riffs and intoxicating hooks are featured throughout within numbers like BUMPIN’ 16’s, SO BAD SO WHAT and ME AND MY BOYS, but we also get more introspective solemn numbers like MAMA IM SORRY which feels like an emotional maturing point for Lafayette as he unveils a deeply personal moment in his life.
This is an EP that belongs within an art house coming of age movie, each piece depicts a moments of adolescence so vividly and perfectly that our own memories come flooding back to us. A stunning project that invites us to understand who the man behind Colby Lafayette is and what his music is all about.