“Fuck a publication and them crackers up at Pitchfork,” proclaimed Angry Blackmen on “Dead Men Tell No Lies,” a track off their latest album The Legend of Angry Blackmen. Yet as I chat with them at Pitchfork Music Festival, they seem satisfied with their current location and position. To be fair to the duo, the admonishment came more as chastising the publication’s lack of attention to their material, not necessarily towards any specific opinion Pitchfork published about the band.
Having both been covered by Pitchfork and invited to perform at Pitchfork Music Festival in their hometown, Angry Blackmen walked out successful in the case of Pitchfork v Angry Blackmen. Though the group initially drew comparisons to acts like Death Grips and JPEGMAFIA and have been well received on internet forums and Twitter communities, Angry Blackmen have been quick to politely reject any allegiance to the nerd-doms that have found them first. To Quentin Branch and Brian Warren, Angry Blackmen are wholly singular.
Produced entirely by Derek Allen, who produces noise music under his Formants alias, and released onto storied industrial hip-hop label Deathbomb Arc, The Legend of Angry Blackmen marks the beginning of a new chapter that is sure to be filled with unexpected successes and more dastard proclamations.
[Note: this interview has been condensed and edited for clarity]
I have an obvious question to start: we’re here at Pitchfork Music Festival and you guys are rapping from an album with the line “Fuck a publication and them crackers up at Pitchfork.” Have you guys thought of the connection? Are you surprised they invited you guys?
Quentin Branch: I was surprised, I was surprised.
Brian Warren: I was surprised they covered us.
QB: It was a full circle moment, and I said that because I was mad because these publications didn’t pay attention to us and now they’re paying attention to us.
How has it been getting all of this relatively mainstream press and attention after working on this project for six, seven years?
QB: It hasn’t been that long, we’ve been doing this as a duo for pretty long though, yeah six, seven years. We’ve been working on the album for two years. [turns to Brian] How does it feel?
BW: It’s been a lot of hard work going into it, a lot of preparing, a lot of strategic planning. It feels like construction, so when we finished building that album, it was a really great moment.
QB: I keep using the word full circle, but-
BW: Because that’s what this is. This is a full circle moment.
QB: It’s like finally, after knocking on that door, we finally got the attention of the people we wanted to.
BW: That’s what 2024 has been feeling like, it’s been feeling like “ah, finally.”
QB: Like a long awaited sequel.
Of the few “experimental” artists I’ve talked to, very few of them want to be labeled as experimental, or at least capital-E experimental, like you’d see on Spotify or at a record store. Is that identity, as the capital-E experimental artist something you guys are conscious about? Or are you intent on ignoring that categorization?
QB: We’re conscious of it, we know about it.
BW: We know about it, and we want to switch it up soon, because you don’t want to stay on something for so long, because then you’re going to sound like a broken record.
QB: Yeah, we’re going to switch it up without alienating what made us big.
People would probably be surprised to hear that you guys are quicker to cite MF DOOM, Lil Wayne, Kanye, and J. Cole as influences than your expected experimental fairs, like JPEGMAFIA, clipping., and Death Grips. What would you say to listeners that are surprised at that connection? What would you direct them to listen for?
QB: I think they would have to focus on the lyrics than the actual production. From a production standpoint, it’s easier to say Death Grips, and clipping., and JPEG, and I’m a fan of all those guys, but our lyricism is what makes us a little more introspective.
BW: I want to say my lyrics come from Kendrick Lamar, I want to say. I can’t listen to Kendrick because I’ll ultimately sound like him, but that’s who I’ll say I pick my inspiration and references from. That’s just because of our subject matter and our flow, because we’re still rappers at the end of the day. The instrumental part of it comes from Nine Inch Nails, and then Death Grips, that’s when they come in.
On the sound, walk me through your guys’ relationship with Derek Allen.
QB: We met him at a basement show in 2020 and he helped mix our album HEADSHOTS!. We worked on the whole of REALITY! with him, so it was a gradual growth. The album was a big accumulation of all of that. He was just sending beats and we would fuck with it. We would collab on a couple tracks too, we did our own production. We’re starting to get into that more, but Derek definitely helped us get there. It was a fusion of all three worlds.
What drew you guys towards him initially? Was it his sound, his responsiveness to your ideas, timeliness?
QB: It was all of that.
BW: All of the above.
QB: It was a puzzle that fit. He likes more old school hip-hop, like Public Enemy, and I have a respect for that too, but it was just a working relationship. I like to compare it to Mike Dean and Kanye, or Ludwig Göransson and Donald Glover.
The entire Angry Blackmen project plays off this caricature and stereotype of the angry black man, but the content itself is incredibly personal and nuanced. There’s explorations of capitalism and religion, among all of these things. What was the inspiration and intent behind juxtaposing the imagery and content itself?
QB: That’s a good ass question. I think we wanted to make sure it all lined up. We wanted to make sure the lyrics and music matched, which you saw. But also it was going to showcase more layers. Yeah, these match up, but if you dig deeper, you’re going to get something more, like the anti-capitalist themes.
BW: It’ll be more like the eye-catching attention of the cover, and then just letting the lyrics tell the story of what you see on the cover. Everything connects, everything makes sense.
The logo, you guys have said, is inspired by KMD, MF DOOM’s old group. What about DOOM entirely, but specifically KMD, caught your guys’ attention in the first place?
QB: I had never seen that Black Bastards logo and it was so…damn! I learned the story behind it, where the album got shelved because of how controversial it was. I was like “what if we did our own version of that?” So we put my own spin on the logo and we’ve been running with that. They were a blueprint of mixing hip hop with different messages. Even though they didn’t get as big as DOOM got, they were a prototype for what was to come.
It’s a different era now, you’re able to say fuck Pitchfork and play at Pitchfork Festival. The risk of compromise is still there, as you get bigger, certain doors will start closing. You saw Tenacious D last week have to break up. Is that something in the forefront of your mind as you get bigger and make more connections?
QB: That was tragic. I just wanna say, shoutout to Kyle Gass from Tenacious D, because I stand with him. Jack Black is kind of fucked up for doing his friend like that. But anyways.
BW: I don’t care how big we get, we’re never going to compromise the art and personal character.
QB: Except if you throw a million dollars. Just kidding. If any labels are listening, we’re never going to compromise the art.
The latest album feels more like a polished and personal update of the material you guys explored on your EPs. What do you think is next for Angry Blackmen? Is it more polishing and refinement of this style, or are you taking a total curveball and trying something totally different?
BW: I want to keep the fanbase on their feet. We’re not going to tell you what we’re doing next. You will know once we make it. We will be more polished, I can give you that. I’mma just leave it at that, because then I’d be giving too much.