Headie One - 18HUNNA ft. Dave (Four Tet Remix)

February 14, 2019 - Relentless Records

I am by no means an avid listener of UK drill, grime, trip hop, road rap, and the like, but I treat music like I treat food. I’ll try anything once, and there’s almost always a sauce that can make even the worst thing taste good. That’s not a direct analogy for this remix, though Four Tet always makes great sauce. No, ‘18HUNNA ft. Dave’ is a fine original track, and Four Tet leaves much of it in tact, his interests lying more with shifting the emotional mood of the piece. 

The lyrical content of ‘18HUNNA’ falls in line with mainstream drill/trap/rap, pulling and floating abstractions of petty crimes, drug doing and dealing, thoughts of violence. I don’t feel particularly connected to any of the ideas being presented and I don’t feel that many people do. It’s not the point, though the layers are there to be explored if one so chooses. The lyrics, dual meanings and loose rhyming act more as a launch pad for mood in this context. 

Four Tet’s contribution to the track could exist just fine on its own. He lays down a rich soundscape as he so often does; field recordings on top of rolling snappy percussion, an ambiguous zither-like instrument boldly taking the helm, a smattering of intricate noise-doilies here and there. It’s grade A comfortable Four Tet. It’s when the two mix that the unknown becomes known. Four Tet steers the ‘18HUNNA’ ship into more interesting waters. Waters surrounded by jungle. Thick vine-covered trees, lush undergrowth, birds and fish and mammals hidden but all around. 

I’ve always been a fan of this kind of juxtaposition. It’s what makes the world go round. 🍍