sex and death in minnesota

Sophie Mitchell

If there’s an artist to obsess over this season, it’s Corbin. A slimier, broodier James Blake, the formerly named ‘Spooky Black’ has released two personal and two collaborated EPs, the most recent being the collab record Couch Potato (made with artist Bobby Raps earlier this year) and his own record Leaving (released in 2014). Leaving is a dark, atmospheric R&B number that’s teeming with sex, angst, and youth. It’s sensual, airy, and a bit grimy all at once, and Corbin’s vocals are positively alluring. Not to mention, he’s only seventeen. A tender sixteen when Leaving and his first EP, Black Silk, were released, his song Without U was named one of Complex Mag’s Best Songs of 2014.

How the hell is that voice coming out of sixteen-year-old, you ask? I don’t know, but it’s some good shit. Corbin hails from the bustling music metropolis of Saint Paul, Minnesota... But in all fairness, the Twin Cities have recently been cultivating a hub for underground rap and hip-hop. The Minneapolis-based label Rhymesayers has given us Prof, Slug (better known as Atmosphere), P.O.S., deM atlas… The list goes on, and Minnesota’s rap contribution extends only deeper. It makes perfect sense for Corbin to lend his ethereal, electronic R&B sound to a tougher rap backing. 

Couch Potato pairs Corbin’s haunting vocals with dark beats and gritty verse on the part of Bobby Raps. The combination is eerie, electric, and the depth of each voice is magnetising. The opening track, Welcome to the Hell Zone is a standout. It’s a softer number, layering acoustic cords with muted bass and dark verse. ‘Corbin asked me if I’m scared of dying / The more I think about it I’m kind of excited,’ Bobby spits. ‘Maybe that’s because my mind is sick and demented / Death ain’t shit but a new adventure.’

Frozen Tundra is another favourite. Audibly more intense, Bobby and Corbin handle the same heavy lyric matter: ‘What’s more to life than a couple of thrills? / Back of my mind, what if none of it’s real?’, it repeats. The track is a concentrated segment of the record’s overarching motif, the dark struggle of cementing a purpose for which to exist. ‘And after I’ve passed on / I hope they roll up and light it / And ash in the casket / Because none of this matters / I don’t think none of this matters.’

Back to Corbin’s self-handled work, Leaving’s focus is on sex rather than death. An atmospheric collection of (not totally) delicate confessions for the female, the record is sensual and explicit and yet still somehow naive. It is vulgar innocence, and it’s divine. HotelSixNine, a collab with Solomon Da God, is the most libidinous track; slow, steamy, and somehow able to get away with ‘Girl your body’s fucking glistening’ as its opening line. The rest of the EP is much less lustful, but no less satisfying. Gauzy gems like Take The Blame So I Don’t Have To and DJ Khaled Is My Father highlight Corbin’s tender side. ‘Sometimes it’s hard not to notice / That smell of roses / Nuzzled in your hair,’ he opens on the latter. Take The Blame flutters in tranquil electronic waves under Corbin’s cupid-struck vocals (‘See I wasn’t ready / Your aim was steady / When you shot me standing tall’). Romantic, rebellious, spooky or not; Corbin is one to watch.