With the year winding down, emcee/producer Latrell James and producer Rain are putting their hats in the ring for Best New Hip-Hop Collaboration of 2022 with their self-titled debut as Hiding From Tomorrow. With connections to left-field hip-hop labels like Fake Four, it’s no surprise to see guest spots from artists like Dark Time Sunshine’s Onry Ozzborn or STL GLD’s Christopher Talken, nor is it a surprise to hear wordy raps and ambient electronics seamlessly mixed on the album’s new single “.38 Special,” which opens with James’ breathless, witty flow before opening up into a spacious, subtly surreal soundscape.
According to Rain, the single—unlike most of the rest of the record—came together organically and immediately at Cambridge, Massachusetts studio The Bridge Sound and Stage as Rain absent-mindedly hit play on an instrumental he’d drafted that morning. “Latrell heard the chords and was like, ‘Give me 10 mins,’” he recalls. “He, too, had a rough sketch of something he’d started the night before. The Bridge has this infamous box of random percussion instruments, so I grabbed a few things and started playing some hand drums while Latrell was finishing up. He recorded the vocals to the chords and a hi hat track which is why the song builds in the way that it does. It sounded complete even while so minimal.”
Paired with the sample-less production and James’ dire observations about the uncertainties of waking up to see another day while living in dangerous environs is animator Matthew Watkins’ mesmerizing black-and-white visual. “We had been talking to our friend Matthew since the inception of this project about making a video series and he just said, ‘I’m ready when you are,’” Rain adds. “He definitely made something incredible.”
Watch it below.
