Last we heard from They Hate Change, the Tampa rap duo had teamed up with Chicago multimedia artist and world-builder Fire-Toolz on a track for a larger project seeing the not-too-dissimilar worlds of their respective labels, Deathbomb Arc and Hausu Mountain, collide. Turns out that would be the pair’s final move before taking a step out from the underground and signing with indie powerhouse Jagjaguwar, along with revealing they’ll be opening shows in early 2022 for another indie powerhouse, Shame.
This news also arrives with a new single, “Faux Leather,” which exhibits all the hallmarks of a classic THC composition: playful trading of verses, immaculate production, and at least one significant beat change (they don’t actually hate change). Citing A Certain Ratio as inspiration, the duo describe the track as being “a bridge to the future from a musical No Man’s Land,” “unignorable music from the most-ignored origins,” and “the direct result of leaning into confusion.” The video, on the other hand, they refer to as “an album cover that talks to you”—at least before the beat switch relocates them to the oft-tweeted-about scenario of playing a show to an audience of one.
Check out the video below, and find Shame’s North American tour dates here.
