Welcome to RedEye’s “Song of the Day,” an ongoing feature where music reporter Josh Terry or another RedEye staff member highlights something they’re listening to. Some days the track will be new, and some days it will be old. No matter what, each offering is something you should check out. Check back every weekday for a new song and subscribe to the Spotify playlist below.
Lushlife, aka Philadelphia rapper/producer Raj Haldar, is in my opinion one of the most criminally overlooked hip-hop acts around. Though his 2012 album “Plateau Vision” was an excellent collection of adventurous, self-produced rap, it never made much of a splash outside of a few favorable blog posts and boasting one of my favorite music videos of all time. Now, it seems like his luck is going to change as he just announced his new full-length effort “Ritualize,” which is out Feb. 19 via Western Vinyl.
Here’s why this new project might be his breakout moment: “Ritualize” is packed with marquee guest stars. It features collaborations from acts as notable Killer Mike, Ariel Pink, I Break Horses, Marissa Nadler, RJD2 and more. More importantly, the lead single “Body Double” is an absolute jam.
One of the reasons why Lushlife is such a worthwhile artist is the effortless way he uses interesting words to paint a picture that makes it seem like he’s not just looking at a thesaurus. “Body Double” is a perfect example of this: Over a dreamy beat backdrop, he drops lines as verbose as, “I’m’a talk with the Bedouins and walk with the gentlemen/where every split second is bringing me to the elegance” in a completely natural way. It’s that kind of wordplay that’ll make anyone excited for the upcoming project. Listen to the song below, which premiered on Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig’s Beats 1 radio show.
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