Lyrics and dark cartoons are blowing up
It’s hard to stand out in today’s hip-hop world. Everybody has tattoos on their faces, colorful hairstyles and grills that make their teeth look like shark’s teeth. These are all common characteristics to grab viewers’ attention. Check out 6ix9ine’s signature bright hair. Post Malone performed a tribute concert for Nirvana in a dress. Lil Darkie face had more graffiti than the Brooklyn subway.
One rapper is gaining attention online, and it’s not because he looks so different from all the other interesting rappers. Lil Darkie doesn’t have the internet stardom he deserves from his shocking face tattoos or flashy outfits. He also has no plans to use drugs or women in any of his videos. Many of his videos don’t even feature the rapper.
Lil Darkie’s popularity on platforms such as SoundCloud, Reddit and Tik Tok comes down to the way that he blends a jarring, aggressively lyrical image with an insightful underlying message. Instead of presenting himself as a cartoon character, he shows his viewers a controversial animated character who looks like it is from a 1950s Disney cartoon.
It is hard to pinpoint Lil Darkie’s musical style. There is definitely a lot of aggression and angst. The influence of modern trap and metal music is evident. Darkie’s technical skills are displayed in endless verses filled with triplets. It all makes him provocative, creepy, and, based on the way the internet is reacting, very interesting to many people.
Who is Lil Darkie, you ask?
Before he became Lil Darkie he was Brahman. Before he became Brahman, he had been Joshua Jagan Hamilton, a high-school boy scout from Long Beach, California.
Hamilton doesn’t seem to believe race and insists that it is a social construct. As a Long Beach high school student, Hamilton was apparently bullied because of his race. Hamilton makes many references to Indian gods both in music and interviews. He clearly has some Indian heritage.
Hamilton was an honors student and a boy scout in high school. Hamilton felt the pressure of being raised in a family that was successful academically and had his childhood worries. His anxieties increased as he became more demanding.
Hamilton started film school after graduating high school. After a dispute with the administration, Hamilton dropped out of film school and never returned. This was when Lil Darkie was created.
Brahman Origins
Joshua Hamilton started making music on SoundCloud under the alias Brahman. Named after Brahman, the creator god of Hindu mythology and the supreme cosmic life-force that flows through all things, the name refers to Hamilton’s music. Brahman is often depicted as having blue skin. Hamilton therefore chose to use a blue animated character for his online rap persona.
Hamilton’s music was loved by Lil Darkie devotees, but Hamilton began to see success with his music in July 2019, when he released “HOLOCAUST” via Soundcloud.
Controversies
People immediately started to notice “HOLOCAUST” on Soundcloud. The provocative image, which featured a black cartoon character dressed in a Nazi uniform, was quite popular. Although the song only mentions the Holocaust two times in a series of fast-paced, hypnotizing verses, the title alone made many people feel triggered. There are many reprimands and horror expressions in the SoundCloud and YouTube comments sections of Lil Darkie. These were due to his song title and imagery choices.
A controversy has been raised about the black cartoon character used as artwork for “HOLOCAUST” and all his songs under the Lil Darkie brand. Many have commented on how the character looks similar to the Hawley and Hazel toothpaste-mascot Darkie, a racist portrayal of Al Jolson dressed in blackface. Lil Darkie said that the resemblance was accidental and that there was no racism behind it. Hamilton claimed again that he does not believe in race.
Hamilton explained the reason for Hamilton’s cartoon character switching from blue to black. According to Hamilton, he discovered that Hindu gods are often depicted with black skin after studying Hindu mythology. People began to draw images of gods with blue skin because they were too frightening. After learning this, Hamilton looked in the mirror and imagined all the color leaving his skin. He then decided to change the color of his cartoon character to black.
Spotify pulled Darkie’s music from their platform, and Instagram temporarily blocked Darkie’s account. Despite continuing to release controversial songs such as “GENOCIDE” or “FUCK ALL of YOU 3, Darkie was reinstated on both platforms. Darkie posted several tweets to express his disapproval at the ban of his accounts.
Lyrical and musical styles
Darkie’s music is a continuation of the same rap style that was used by XXXTentacion and Lil Pump. Darkie is a versatile artist, and you don’t know what you’ll get from each new song. He adds elements of metal to his hip-hop tracks, and sometimes turns up the angst. Artists like Machine Gun Kelly and ZillaKami have been incorporating elements of metal and punk into their hip-hop releases in recent years. Darkie is certainly a part of that trend.