What’s an old master?
According to Google, “in art history, ‘Old Master’ (or ‘old master’) refers to any painter of skill who worked in Europe before about 1800, or a painting by such an artist.”
For Melo, one quarter of Chengdu rap group Higher Brothers, Old Master, which is the title of his new solo album, is a tribute to hip hop gods like Nas and Gang Starr.
88rising have been teasing this one for a few weeks now, as Melo dropped two singles over the past month, “Born Like This” on April 7 and “Daili” on April 14.
All that was building up to the eventual album release today, April 21. Old Master is not particularly beset by surprise moments, such as when fellow Higher Brothers’ member KNOWKNOW teamed up with Snoop Dogg, but it’s a nice thorough dive into Melo’s rapping chops and own particular old school, boombap flavor.
The drop comes after fellow Higher Brothers’ members KNOWKNOW and Masiwei dropped their own albums at the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 respectively.
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So now we’re just waiting on Psy. P (the fourth Higher Brother) to get in on the act. He seems to be keeping himself busy in the run up to his own solo LP, featuring three times on Old Master and getting ready to drop a single with Chengdu techno rock band Stolen in the coming weeks.
