Hoping to follow in the mold of fellow suburb rappers Childish Gambino and Kid Cudi (both mentioned as inspirations), 17-year old Jelani Aryeh dropped the Suburban Destinesia EP back in June. Aryeh hails from the suburbs of San Diego and is part of the Raised By The Internet collective, a group that met online in a fan forum for a group that also met on a fan forum (BROCKHAMPTON). Everything you need to know about Aryeh (for now) can be found in an interview he did with Pigeons and Planes back in July. His quote about looking up the meaning of “destinisea” on Urban Dictionary illustrates how much of an internet child Aryeh is, another one in wave of teenage artists that are pushing pop, hip-hop and R&B in new directions.
Aryeh’s music makes it clear that he, like many rappers before him, is locked into a lifestyle he hates. The difference obviously lies in the fact that Aryeh feels limited by his surroundings in the sense that he has outgrown the simple safety of the suburbs rather than finding himself stuck in poverty, selling drugs, etc. His music is eccentric and mixes the three genres mentioned above with ease, switching between capable rapping and silky singing. Suburban Destinisea is his first official project, and it opens with Aryeh spitting monotone raps over a snappy kick-snare on “Spectrum.” Listeners quickly come across the line “Cause I ain’t really have a story/Somehow I just got a chance.” Iit manages to encapsulate life in the suburbs in a few words. Many kids (hand up) who grew up in the suburbs got there because of the work their parents did, leaving them without much of a backstory but with an excellent chance to make something of themselves.
“Where We Go” is the next track as well as my highlight, featuring beautifully pitched guitar chords and a strained vocal performance from Aryeh that is unexpected but enjoyable. He discusses suburban apathy as well as the feeling of losing the faith/trust of someone close to him. “Destinisia” comes next as an electronic filler track of sorts, which is followed by “San Clemente,” a futuristic, pattering, spacey track where Aryeh sings more tenderly before breaking into some quieter bars. He again expresses his boredom with the suburbs and seems to desire a move to the big city. “Destenisia II” follows in a similar vein, but with distant guitar chords and steady drums. It’s a hazy, somewhat confusing song that finds Aryeh feeling betrayed, lost and possibly fearing a beating from his father. “Jacarandas,” another standout track, is even drearier featuring a deliberate beat and lethargic guitar as Aryeh goes on further about the monotony of the ‘burbs and how its young inhabitants are mindlessly chasing popularity. The auditory backdrop is certainly fitting for the feeling of endless days in a generic neighborhood. Aryeh closes with the upbeat “4US Ranch” that brings a cheerful kick snare to play with some delicate guitar as he gets back to the energetic raps from the first track.
Suburban Destenisia benefits from being short enough to keep the listener engaged and cohesive enough to follow along with, but most of the tracks have enough personal flair to survive on its own. Aryeh strength is the way he uses his voice to convey different moods, but a combination of monotone delivery and ho-hum beat selection make his forays into full-on rapping (the first and last tracks) somewhat underwhelming. New subject matter for the next project would be appreciated, as themes from the suburbs seem to be exhausted. Still, it’s impossible to deny his talent as a pure musician, and Suburban Destinisea is a top-shelf debut from a kid who is just seventeen and only got into music full-time about a year ago. He has much growing up to do, but Jelani Aryeh is already far ahead of the curve.