A few days ago, Husky released his newest track ‘NPC’ with the alternative-name ‘Happy End’ suggesting the premise being the bastardization of digital spaces and the synthetic euphoria engendered when the real ‘I’ is masked for a fictitious, attractive ‘I.’ The name ‘NPC’ traditionally means, in video-game etymology, ‘Non-playing character’ indicating a computer-generated [not only for simulated mechanics] whose function is pre-determined and does not have ‘real’ consciousness outside their programmed, artificial sentience and dialogic interactions with normal players. So by Husky using such a niche acronym, he has already indicated a certain distance from realness, made even more visible when considering the secondary title, usually indicating a sexual release.
This isn’t outside of the Huskian aesthetic, however, as most of his tracks utilize sensual-based innuendos and overt references, albeit saturated in literary prowess and poetic acumen, all which cast a sardonic, tongue-in-cheek ‘f*** you’ aura regarding standardized rap explicitness. However, the real novel character of this track lies in its usage of new, synth-space beats and instrumentally metallic aesthetics, as Husky’s normal idiom revolves around a syncopated bass, eight-beat tap, and various layers of atmospherics and secondary inclusions, along with several variations of timbre and colored audio. He has traded in his ‘Beyond Baikal’ lyricism and ‘Poem about Homeland’ melodic dependency for an aggressive contortment of ripe rhythmicity and syntactic violence, what is produced is a ‘Spiraling hypno-trance’ like sensation, where because of his repetition phraseology [ostinati] and oratorical irresistibility, you get thoroughly sucked into the flow. As identified by Dr. Adam Krims(2000), ‘flow’ in a general sense comprises the rhythmic variances and tempic persona of the intoner [rapper] and comes in three forms, namely ‘sung,’ ‘percusion-effusive,’ and ‘speech-effusive,’ put differently melodic-driven, mouth-beats, and vocalized-beats, however as indicated by Adams(2009), the big kicker comes to language and syllabic manipulation, and for Husky in particular, this is integral to his rapping style, as the Russian language an und für sich [in and of itself] is a dual-natured being of sensuous, Italianate lyricality and yet Germanized, consonant exactness. But let’s explore the track to find out exactly what I mean.
Overall, the track’s fairly routine in that it utilizes a mapped-out pattern of amplified intensity and lyrical/poetical rhetoricality, migrating from Husky’s more ‘semplice’ [used cautiously as it’s more crunched-out than the term indicates], textually rambling musicality, used for the opening and conclusion to craft a formal structure [one of Husky’s most prominent adherences throughout his tracks], to a hard-ball [even carnal] syllabified poeticism which relies on an organized cacophonic fabric of guttural inclinations and ecstatic vocallic demonisms. The ‘meat’ of the track lies in this aesthetic zone where Dionaysian outburst of chaotic contrivances are paired with Husky’s detonatingly raw emotionality, and masterful, [Apollonian] post-production manipulation coalesce with antagonizing, deep bass-beat supremacy to create a pure, unadulterated micro/macrocosm of constantly evolving, cyber-sensual attacks on the auditory senses.
It’s fairly clear that Husky’s tracks always incorporate some type of highly-adept, musical ferocity and distinctly jarring [or 'identifiably’ on-brand] orchestrated verisimilitude, perhaps consciously but nevertheless indeed highlighting the expressionary plurality of the voice through declamatory ‘instrumentalizing’ and intonationalized, vocallic dexterity, a staple in the variegated Rap genre, where the human vocalic abilities are ‘instrumentalized’ and exploited for soundscape richness. Punching the air and grabbing you by the mind with sonic opium laced with recursive hypnotism, the ‘novel’ comes from the palpably transparent, melodically-unreliant apoplecticism unseen in a while since Husky’s earlier career, especially his uniquely band-based EP ‘Triptych on Human Flesh.’ Even there, he assiduously relied on a preset melody for structure, whereas in this newest track the bulk of the musical-life seems to operate emancipated from a recurrent tuneful pattern and more so [another chiefly Huskian characteristic] variegated ‘leit-motifs,’ which distort, reshape, and utterly stupefy. In Dr. Jeanette Bicknell(2005), she discusses in-length the aesthetic attributes which determine a song’s reception, however her comments on the lessening of the poetic factor during performance, “Poetry texts would seem to be ontologically thicker than song texts,” and the influence of song choice on public perception, “the kinds of songs a singer...performs also...influence...perception of...personality,” contribute to the reasoning why this newest track is so novel, both musically and narratologically.
What does Bicknell mean and how’s it integral to this track? The premise of ‘NPC’ revolves around the devolution of ‘self’ into the digital planes of ‘unself’ or as it’s more widely known the ‘online identity’ or ‘mask’ one takes on when operating within the [relatively] limitless bounds of cyber-reality. When talking about the dissolution of in-real-life [IRL, a common gaming term] personalities for their online counterparts, it’s helpful to remember that when we enter into the digital spaces, we are not aimless in our intentions. Rather, regardless of awareness, there is clear intentionality which has provoked the human mind to the point where one is ‘called’ to enter into synergy with internet spaces. Thus, upon this willful submergence into the endless catacombs of ‘knowledge’ and then some, Husky has created a ‘hole in the internet’ [дырка в интернете] where he professes his dedication to following someone, but ‘whom’ is that person? We come to find out that he’s come to find sexual release, however predicating the statement of his goal with the question ‘Whom do I see,’ as if implying the realistic identity before him doesn’t seem to fit the virtual image, thus leaving him with an unresolved inquiry.
Meticulously suave as always, Husky’s chorus sets up the premise of his visit and its psychological subtextuality; Rappers [he specifically notes the Black Star signed artists, pop-singer/vlogger Klava Koka and rapper Yegor Kreed; This track then could be seen as a castigatory chide against the infamous Black star founder Timati] who ‘skate on ice’ and project complete inauthenticity cause his smile [denoted to be on his forehead insinuating creative inspiration] to irrevocably close, thus his revilement of fictitious personalities is only met with abject stoicism.
Maneuvering into the narratival premise of the track [the track’s philosophy lies in the chorus with the thematic plot lying in the verses], Verse 1 continues the idea of lusting after death, a running trope with Husky which contributes to my conception of Huskian Surrealism [see ‘Kill me,’ and ‘Kill the Rapper’], albeit with sexualized overtone, Husky stating, “I made a hole in the Internet, I’m following you, and show me your secrets, I will not blame. Oh, how can I become a megabyte in the cellular network? To be a pixel in the photo of your chest?” He goes on to state, “ how I want to be online until I fall asleep, until I die,” thus marrying sexual gratification with the idea of death. This type of euphoric release is the prime example of a pseudo-Gallicist, 19th-century concept of ‘le petit mort,’ where upon orgasmic release, the consciousness monetarily dissipates and one is rendered transcendentalized, afloat from the material but not yet within the celestial.
Following the song’s bellicose trajectory, Husky then utilizes the ‘NPC’ aspect of the title, stating that within the cyber chat rooms to which he occups, all the ‘bots’ [NPC’s are technically bots] should lift their hands and show themselves, again equating commercial rappers to unintelligent NPCs who do not think for themselves. Verse 2 proceeds with deepening the sexualized death narrative, but here he expands upon his internet persona-based activities stating, “Oh fake names, I am your happy spectator. Like everyone, I need a substitute,” insinuating his interaction with sites like Chaturbate [a popular webcam service] and other pay-per-view chatroom type programs where one can don a fictitious name and anonymously view sexualized content for free. But, as he has often stated in other songs in clandestine and overt manners [likewise interviews, see GQ, 2019], he wishes to become insignificant and unimportant to both online and offline audiences, “Only one dream I cherish and quietly fiddle with. Dissolve on the Internet, like a Teraflu packet [common cold, dissolvable powder].”
Ergo, this sonically irregular [lack of melody and accustomed vocalic temperament] and yet hawkishly typical diss-track towards internet notoriety and fame, as well as the easy-access towards personalities facilitated by online activity. This curt track reads as another attempt by Husky to pugnaciously coax the hesitant many from their crystalline castles of ‘knowing’ into the hazy and incredibly uncertain bogs of ‘unknowing’ by addressing the huge elephant in the room. That being; Yeah, sexual deviancy is great and being ‘sexually attractive’ has its dubious rewards, but at the end of the day you have to ask yourself, ‘Whom do I see?’ As the diabolical ostinati pounds out ‘I see you,’ using a Reichian ‘Phase music’ type aesthetic to offset the repetitions, we hear the ominous eight-note tick of the tacet ‘clock’ reminding us that our time is limited. Who do you want to be and again, ‘whom do I see?’
Listen to the song here.
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