Being Max Bell is great. I wish I could be Max Bell more often. [ed. note]
Self-love can easily lead to incessant selfies, self-promo, and ostensibly self-funded presidential campaigns. Loving yourself can always be a way to avoid seeking double-tap validation every hour. Like most, Quelle Chris is stuck in the middle.
His newest album, Being You is Great, I Wish I Could Be You More Often, which Mello Music Group will release on February 10th, is an exploration of our endless search for stability. His best project since 2013’s Ghost at the Finish Line, Being You is Great… displays Chris’s singular ability to couch the sobering in the comic. Here, self-love is synonymous with blunted self-reflection and absurdity (i.e. lead single “Buddies,” which finds Chris buying flowers for himself). One of Detroit’s finest grants you access to every nook and cranny of his consciousness. This is rap’s answer to Being John Malkovich. Watch out for the inhale.
In addition to Chris’s beats and rhymes, the album features a rogues gallery of premiere rappers and producers, including but not limited to MNDSGN, Alchemist, Roc Marciano, and Homeboy Sandman (full tracklist and album artwork below). Today, we’re premiering the video for the Chris produced single “Calm Before,” which features New York’s Cavalier and Suzi Analogue. A muted and hazy suite, Chris and co rap to the propulsive background clipping. Chris meditates on the ways we attempt to fill the void, on the moments just before we’re forced to face it. His diction is occasionally difficult to decipher, but so is the mind. Fittingly, the video is bare bones, a reminder that the only way to achieve clarity is to find your island and eliminate all distractions.
Tracklist:
01 Intro
02 Buddies [prod. Ayepee]
03 Popeye (feat. I, Ced) [prod. MNDSGN]
04 In Case I Lose Myself (feat. Cavalier, Denmark Vessey, Goose) [prd. Iman Omari]
05 Fascinating Grass (feat. Big Tone, Roc Marciano, 87) [prod. Quelle Chris]
06 BS Vibes (feat. House Shoes) [prod. Chris Keys]
07 Dumb For Brains (feat. Cavalier) [prod. Quelle Chris]
08 Calm Before (feat. Cavalier, Suzi Analog) [prod. Quelle Chris]
09 The Prestige (feat. Jean Grae) [prod. Quelle Chris]
10 The Dreamer In The Den Of Wolves [prod. Quelle Chris]
11 I’m That NI#%A (feat. Denmark Vessey) [prod. Chris Keys]
12 Birthdaze [prod. Swarvy]
13 Learn To Love Hate [prod. Ched Biscuits]
14 It’s Great To be (feat. Bilal Salaam) [prod. Chris Keys]
15 Encore
16 Don’t Get Changed (feat. Denmark Vessey & Elzhi) [prod. Quelle Chris]
17 Pendulum Swing (feat. Homeboy Sandman) [prod. Alchemist]
