The official music visual production for the new hit single “White Sapphires” (prod. by CaptainCrunch & Brent Rambo) – performed by hip-hop artist Charles $lum – is a completely original production piece. Remix featuring Wifisfuneral coming soon.
“White Sapphires” is a VR experience, damn near. The latest in my catalog & something different for me to release, sound-wise. Very bright and up sounding, I consider this one to be Hip-Pop essentially & I hope you enjoy. I really aimed to please with this one.
Charles $lum is a hip-hop musician hailing from Pittsburgh, PA. He is an artist that delivers an entire conceptual work of art within the confines of each and every song. His visuals, style of writing, carefully layered vocals, and flow take him outside of competition within his marketplace. ‘$lum’ as it’s often shortened to – chooses the most interesting ways & words to convey his take on the realities of life. However, that reality that we as listeners are anchored to can sometimes be far from clear cut. If anything, $lum is abstract by nature and his lyrics are conveying matters which aren’t usually discussed or even put into words at all. $lum approaches his music in this fashion to push himself creatively and the general envelope of music as well. He has essentially created his own subgenre in a sense, setting out to achieve the title of something akin to a modern-day Hip-hop avant-garde. He performs this at a savant-like level, exuberantly. This said subgenre is submerged in psychedelic sounds, thoughts, and substances; with striking takes on more common realities as well. It’s not ‘hippie rap’ or ‘conscious hip-hop’, it’s also not void of the sounds and topics that come along with those. Elements of trap, gangster rap, pop, drill, and R&B are all present, too. The sound is just drug-induced and free at its core. However, $lum proves again & again that he has a very strong potential to distinguish himself as one of the most multi-faceted artists in today’s music.
In popular, radio-spun music; it was thought that you generally can only rap to a beat in certain patterns: within a certain time frame and drum sequences (Until rappers like Blueface & TeeJayx6 came along). However, a break-away from that norm is time tempered & rhythmic relation $lum has always exhibited in his music. This stems from a love of what he calls, ‘the genius of MF Doom’ and he has more than apparently felt limited by said ‘norms’. Much of $lum’s earlier music shows him finding his own way to slip in perfectly between each kick, knock, boom, and snare. His music is clearly modeled to be different but to fine extents. $lum has a style & flow that in the past may have sounded like a new or possibly even incorrect way to rap when heard by a general audience. However, the listener is left to notice the nuances he leaves and interpret $lum’s subconscious streams of thought. It is to be experienced like an art piece within a gallery. Meanings are almost never singular & possibly even more often are left to be entirely up to the listener. His vocals are a surprising array of different pitches, tones, and emotions put together with surgical precision. Creatively, these factors make him engaging to potentially everyone. Everything the music entails is artistically pre-designed for a cult following.
Charles $lum’s out of the box style may be hard to grasp for some and much of this is due to his psychedelic influenced style of thought. His compensation is using his obscure viewpoint to take his audience home in a sense that is so strong figuratively; it’s almost literal. He does this with themes of family, survival, and vulnerability to name a few. While a strong portion of his peers in rap culture promote drinking opiate infused beverages; $lum’s daily focuses are on a more natural affinity – the feelings of tryptamine like drugs and cannabis. It is the expression of these reborn like experiences that are part of his appeal to everyone from those into counter culture to religious followers. Charles comes off in his music as scientific and calculated; Shamanic even. It is presented in a way that leaves the listener to strongly assume that his real life mirrors the music. Having an unquenchable thirst for knowledge leaves him constantly teaching his listener while asking himself questions simultaneously. His subconscious reigns supreme over his writing process which opens the streams of factual and honest information into the steady yet sporadic flow he often delivers. He makes this evident through the subject matter he implants in the music. As a person, he doesn’t give the impression of being ego dominated. Even at his most aggressive and confident delivery, it’s rarely braggadocious. He educates his listeners in a multitude of ways; something most emcees fail to do even when they try.
His grandfather was Chuck Cooper, the first African-American drafted into the NBA & $lum comes from two very progressive black families in Pittsburgh. The legacy of pride that comes with this is evident in his demeanor and although he is outspoken on more topics than those that pertain to race – it plays a tremendous role in his content. To sit down through a Charlie Slum song or project is to be taken through space and time, sometimes tapping into a collective black or human general subconscious. One is brought into a world of $lum’s own with him playing the narrator. He can rap and sing from vivid ‘in his shoes’ perspectives, even if those shoes are not those of Charles. $lum is an emcee who is far from the commonplace rapper. Charlie Slum embodies the grassroots, do it yourself, independent, non-conformist artist. He represents himself with an undeniably strong vision in a lane that’s less traveled. As an electric performer, his own manager and marketing team, co-orchestrator of anything with his name on it, & also a film and merchandising visionary: there seems to be little $lum cannot do or isn’t attempting to master.
To conclude, Charles $lum is the antithesis of a monolith or one-dimensional artist. Lyrically he can fall somewhere in between a Nas or Kendrick Lamar like sound. Although his singing has grown to be a more integral part of his sound, $lum can rap with the best of them. On a business & visionary level beyond music; Slum shows more similarities with a Kanye West, Pharrel Williams, or Tyler The Creator. He co-directs, co-edits, and co-engineers his projects beyond the realm of today’s average artist. He runs a subdivision of an upscale hemp clothing company. That of which he has titled, ‘Micron’ and creates all of the official designs for.
The music videos $lum releases are vastly more often than not a creative and refreshing turn in comparison to the expectations of non-budgeted entertainers. His most recent singles show a changed in the tide as far as his sound is concerned. $lum is entering a new soundscape where he seems comfortable but still fits in the sphere of current rap music. He has worked with the likes of Wifisfuneral, Ski Beatz, & Nickelus F – all on his own cognizance. $lum is passionate about social involvement, and his clash of a genuine Saul Williams or Tupac Shakur-like activist mindset is present within his daily life and music content. Charles Slum is a culmination of great music and great ideas; a multitude of cultural influence & multimedia. He has the potential to make his way into the space of an American icon.
