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Singin' In The Ocean: Heems - WILD WATER KINGDOM (Han-solo mixtape #2)



I think one of the reasons that Das Racist works so well is because of the cross-section between Heems' great appreciation for Mainstream Pop melded against Kool A.D.'s desire to be weird/Experimental. While Nehru Jackets (January) was just a bunch of Mike Finito-produced beats made from Indian samples, WILD WATER KINGDOM is slightly more commercial... almost directly influenced by post-2001 Hip-Hop: shit like The Blueprint, Dipset, Kanye, Meek Mill, and French Montana. Heems managed to hand-select some Funky "liquified" beats from Harry Fraud, Crookers, Beautiful Lou, LE1F, Steel Tipped Dove, Mike Finito, and Keyboard Kid.

"I've become in touch with my astrological signs. I'm a Cancer, and I'm a Pisces Rising for my moon [sign], so I'm pretty fucking watery. I like water a lot and this past summer, I tried to be out by the beach as much as I could. I was out on the Hamptons, I was out on Martha's Vineyard, I was out in [West India] last year. I like going to Hawaii a lot. So, I've found that water is my friend. Water is also, on a larger level, everywhere - I'm water, you are water, we are water. Finally, it's a water park my family and I used to go to, like five or six cars filled with Indian people all from New York to Pennsylvania. We never went to Dorney Park, so we always went to Wildwater Kingdom."

- Heems (Rolling Stone)


Roughly 6 of it's 17 tracks have already been released/heard in some way, shape, or form; But WILD WATER KINGDOM is still chock-full of unexpected surprises and memorable moments. Friends-collaborators Childish Gambino, SAFE, Lakutis, and Bodega Bamz all rolled through for a few "radio-friendly" guest verses. "Death Is Not an Option" is an early favourite, which just so happens to feature the latter 2 emcees trading off brutally honest one-liners alongside Himanshu [Heems] himself. It's named after Dorney Park's sister water-themed amusement park and ironically, WILD WATER KINGDOM's mixing, mastering, and eventual release were plagued by Hurricane Sandy's crippling East Coast beat-down. Here's a few Heems-related multi-media items for your viewing pleasure: STELLAR Rolling Stone pre-release interview (above), a recent Reddit fan AMA, and the Hot Sugar-assisted "56k" music video. Sounds like Action Bronson and Captain Murphy's newly-liberated mixtapes, Rare Chandeliers/DUALITY, are pretty TIGHT, too!

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