With quarantine comes self-reflection, and with self-reflection came G-Eazy’s latest, poignant project Everything’s Strange Here. The 10-track collection holds the artist from a new vantage point drastically different from the hip-hop space within which he’s found superstar success. The full album comes after the release of “Free Porn, Cheap Drugs” where listeners unexpectedly saw the rapper take on the persona of an alternative indie rock singer fresh off of SoundCloud. It’s much different than the G-Eazy we’ve seen take the charts by absolute storm.
From start to finish, the psychedelic trip of an album is a raw, honest supply of musical authenticity. While it may strum up unrest from fans seeking a new hoard of hip-hop hits, G-Eazy really just doesn’t care about the criticism. “It’s honest and pure–it’s me. Take it or leave it, this is how I feel” the artist said over social media. More refreshing than this sonic change of style is an artist not giving a damn about what anyone else thinks; from a single play, it’s clear that passion is at the crux of Everything’s Strange Here.
Embedded with samples of classic hits and drawn out synthetic sounds, G-Eazy created the ideal California beach anthology. Tracks like “Nostalgia Cycle” would read beautifully in a live festival setting, while “Every Night of the Year” feels like a 1:00 AM bedroom performance dawning a simple guitar and gentle voice. The album is a steady collective but undoubtedly takes on a tender note with heartfelt lyrics paying homage to a softer side of the lyrical process.
We’ve seen leather jacket-clad rapper that is G-Eazy, but Everything’s Strange Here introduces us to Gerald. Indie kids would fall weak for the project’s Tame Impala-esque artistic presentation and the genius of the perfectly woven samples like The Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind” and Carly Simon’s “You’re so Vain.” It’s a bonfire album, an album college kids would shout from their rooftops, and an intimate journey into the artist’s love and growth. This alter-ego of G-Eazy managed to genre bend the system and form his own rhythmic, trippy musical sphere.
