Week 101: “Beneath It All” by The Slakadeliqs feat. King Reign & Shad

slakadeliqs

The Slakadeliqs are not actually a band, but one man, the talented and extravagantly-named Slakah the Beatchild. Having spent years producing other people’s music, Slakah adopted the Slakadeliqs moniker on his 2012 release, “The Other Side of Tomorrow”.

It’s the type of album that only someone with a producer’s mind could create; sonically fascinating, with hints of just about every genre you could imagine. This song alone has bits of folk, soul, and hip-hop floating under its soothing surface. It’s reminiscent of “Hallelujah” by k-os, but perhaps even more hypnotic.

What makes this a beautiful song:

1. The strummed guitar in the first verse is so soft, as if the guitarist is wearing gloves. Along with the glockenspiel and the harp, it gives the song a really fragile feel.

2. The switch to 7/4 time as the song hits 3 minutes. It’s hard to think of another song that has a rapped verse and 7/4 time.

3. The repeated chord progression in the final section. After a fairly normal descending set of chords, we get a bizarre major chord on the fourth degree of the scale thrown in, adding to the urgency of the song’s last minutes.

Recommended listening activity:

Tracing your hand and writing a poem inside the shape it leaves.

Buy it here.