Inhabit Past Cloaks. 19 narcotic hexes from Chester Watson, written and recorded while he was 15, 16, and 17, created with cheap equipment, powerful weed, and a restless mind. Early work culled from his first mixtape, Phantom (2012), Tin Wooki (2014), and Soundcloud loosies.
Past Cloaks is the first release on POW Recordings, an introduction to one of the most gifted teenaged rappers this side of Earl, Nas, or Andre. These are the first experiments and random blades from the Monotone Samurai, the leader of Nu Age, lungs black as his irises, tangents to open up the ears of the ancient.
These are the results of a young searcher wrestling with the present and future. An adolescent gypsy skating through St. Louis, Georgia, and Florida, blessed with a wild imagination, precocity, and a dark temperament. He re-imagines himself as a cursed black Pharaoh covered in golden scarabs, an enigma with wings, spitting raps as hot as Guatemalan springs. A new anti-hero with venom, the beast hallucinated on ayahuasca or just too much liquor. As Watson says himself, “the best villain since Mad-V.”
The beats come from all over. Some originals from Watson, some from Psymun, Bobby Raps, and Art Vandelay, others are repurposed. It’s dusted and damaged psychedelic music, ideal for imprecations and illicit behavior, baleful hymns and bleak parables. Rap for warm-hearted skeptics and seekers, smokers and sippers. The sort of songs where you catch as much on the 5th listen as you do on the 50th.
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