Tampa/Tri-City hip hop duo They Hate Change recently released a new EP “666 Central Ave.” via LA label Godmode. I was totally unfamiliar with the group but I’ve been seeing them pop up in some trusted sources around my universe so I had to dive in to see for myself.
What you’ll find on the EP is some of the freshest, most inventive hip hop of the year, with production taking plenty of inspiration from underground dance music, from jungle, footwork, Miami bass and more. Plainly, it’s here to make you feel good and move around, granting you a now-forbidden taste of high energy you might be missing from the shutdown nightlife scene in your area. Plenty of deep bass, tight, hammering drums and swaggering, fast-paced bars. It’s FUN. Thank GOD.
I really dig the whole EP, but “Screwface” really connected with me on a sonic level. The mix is littered with micro-fragments of high-frequency signals, chopped up exasperated vocals and smooth submerged bass, all bound together with a killer break and an eerie bell loop throughout. The rapping is top-notch as well, the flow/melody at one point reminding me a bit of fellow FL rapper Denzel Curry. The whole project is hella entertaining, putting They Hate Change on my map and a group to watch for a full-length hopefully on the horizon. On Twitter they call themselves Black Daft Punks, which like, hell yeah. I want these guys to be as big as Daft Punk. Bigger. Let’s do it.