With his debut self-titled project and a coupling of releases, The Philharmonik quickly became one of our favorite young artists in 2018. An incredibly versatile musician that finds his groove somewhere between his role as a rapper, a vocalist, an instrumentalist, and a producer, he has all the promise of the rarest artists in music history. George Clinton, Prince, and Anderson .Paak are among the incredibly limited company to which his transcendent talent belongs. And on top of it all, he never ceases to bring with his music an important message. The Philharmonik dove into the struggles of the black community, police brutality, violence, economic disparity of all people, and overcoming the lows with positivity and of course, music. And it did it in honor of music’s wide and illustrious past. Seamlessly weaving in and out of hip-hop, funk, soul, jazz, electronica, and R&B, the album is a masterpiece the likes of which should seemingly not have been a debut project at all.

 

Now, with his first single of 2019, the comical Drugs, The Philharmonik is unable to pull himself from his meaningful pedestal even while cracking humorous punchlines. And yet, it works. A symphonic, theatrical track that feels like it should open some sort of depressive poor millennial Broadway play about surviving economic and social crises, Drugs is about nothing if not selling drugs when out of options. And even through the foggy mire of its hilarity, Drugs is painfully relatable and beautifully scored. 

 

Give this man a proper stage already.