About

Brockhampton, sometimes stylized in all caps as BROCKHAMPTON, is an American artist collective and hip-hop boy band formed in San Marcos, Texas in 2015. Led by rapper and artist Kevin Abstract, the group is described as "the Internet's first boy band," as some, if not most, of the members had met on an online Kanye West fan forum. The group came to prominence in 2017 with their Saturation trilogy of albums, before being signed to RCA Records in 2018.

History

Early Career

Brockhampton has its roots in the now-defunct group AliveSinceForever, formed by Ian "Kevin Abstract" Simpson in 2009 after posting on the Kanye West fan forum KanyeToThe asking if anyone wanted to form a band with him.^[1] AliveSinceForever would release their first and only EP, The ASF EP^[2], on July 29th, 2013; the lineup consisting of Kevin Abstract, Ameer Vann, Dom McLennon, and Mic Kurb, later known as Rodney Tenor, among other members. Near the end of 2014, AliveSinceForever disbanded and rebranded as Brockhampton,^[3] with more members being added, some also from KanyeToThe, and released their first single under the new moniker, "Bet I," on January 27th, 2015 (shown below, left). This would be followed up a few months later with the single "Hero" released on June 15th (shown below, right). "Bet I" would later be removed in 2017 due to Abstract saying that the song wasn't an accurate representation of the band now^[4], as would "Hero."

On August 28th, the group released the track "Dirt" on Fool's Gold Records. A music video (shown below, upper left) was released after winning a contest held by VFiles Loud. This would be followed up with the group's first mixtape All-American Trash on March 24th, 2016 (shown below, upper right). A music video for the song "Flip Mo" (shown below, lower left) by member Merlyn Wood would be posted as part of promotion for the mixtape. On January 27th, 2017, the group released the song "Cannon" alongside an accompanying music video. (shown below, lower right)

Saturation Trilogy

On May 6th, 2017, Brockhampton released the song "Face," the first single off of the group's debut album Saturation. A music video was released the same day and featured the band members destroying a house (shown below, upper left). The music video received 4.5 million views within over one year. The album's release would be preceded by three other singles following "Face", those being "Heat", "Gold", and "Star". (music videos shown below, remaining corners) The album was eventually released on June 9th.

On July 5th, 2017, a month after the release of their debut album, Kevin Abstract announced the second installment and the group's sophomore album would come out next month.^[6] On August 25th, 2017, the group released Saturation II. The lead single, "Gummy", was released on August 1st, with the music video (shown below, upper left) garnering over 5 million views in over a year, and was also followed by three other singles, with one released every week prior to the album, those being "Swamp", "Junky", and "Sweet". (music videos shown below).

On December 15th, 2017, the group's third album and the final part in the Saturation trilogy, Saturation III was released. Though touted as the "last" album from the group^[7], it was later clarified that the statement was not literal and that they would most likely put out more music.^[8] The album's release was preceded by the lead single "Boogie", released on December 12th (music video shown below, left). In the weeks after the release of Saturation III, one of the songs from the album, "Zipper," garnered notoriety due to containing a shout out to Youtube music critic and reviewer Anthony Fantano, who gave coverage on the group's albums, with the lyric "Head was clean, Tony Fantano." (music video shown below, right)

The reception to the Saturation Trilogy has been generally positive, with Pitchfork giving Saturation I, II, and III a 6.5^[9], 7.2^[10], and 7.5^[11] out of 10 respectively. Music critic Anthony Fantano has also rated the trilogy highly, with a light 9 for Saturation I and decent 8's for II and III (reviews shown below), also all out of 10. On RateYourMusic,^[12] ratings of 3.53, 3.73, and 3.77 out of 5 have been given for I, II, and III respectively.

Signing to RCA

On March 30th, 2018, it was announced on Brockhampton's Twitter^[13] and Kevin Abstract's Instagram^[14] that the group had signed to RCA Records, a major record label and division of Sony Music. The record contract was reported by news outlets to be worth over $15 million for six albums within three years.^[15] However, despite the major signing, Abstract has assured on both Instagram and Twitter that everything else regarding the band, music, and music videos will stay the same. (shown below)

Departure of Ameer Vann

On May 12th, accusations of sexual misconduct were directed towards Ameer Vann, a founding member of the group since 2015. Singer-songwriter Rhett Owen, who was in a relationship with him, accused Vann of being “emotionally manipulative and mentally abusive", along with leveraging accusations of sexual relations with a minor and abusing women. Another woman under the Twitter handle @GIGlNOTHADID shared claims from other women who had relationships with Vann.^[16][17] In response, Vann tweeted from his now-deleted Twitter account "although my behavior has been selfish, childish, and unkind, I have never criminally harmed anyone or disrespected their boundaries." He had also denied the claims of relations with a minor or violating anyone's consent. (shown below)

On May 27th, Brockhampton responded to the claims, tweeting a picture stating that Ameer would no longer be in the group, apologizing to Ameer's victims, and that they were sorry for not speaking up sooner. The group would cancel the remaining dates of their US tour to regroup as a result. (shown below)

The Best Years of Our Lives Trilogy

On December 14th, 2017, the day before the release of Saturation III, the group announced their fourth studio album Team Effort to be released in 2018.^[18] However, on March 20th, 2018, the group tweeted a picture stating that while the album was supposed to be released next week, it was decided that it would be "saved for another time" after "speaking with God".^[19] Thus the album was delayed indefinitely. In its place was the announcement of another album Puppy, to be released in summer 2018.^[20] A teaser featuring actor and musician Jaden Smith was released on March 30, 2018 (shown below, left). However, that album was also delayed after the allegations of sexual abuse directed at former member Ameer Vann came to light.^[21] That summer, the group instead released a trio of singles, "1999 Wildfire", "1998 Truman" and "1997 Diana" as part of their Beats 1 radio show Things We Lost in the Fire Radio. All three were singles off of another album, now shelved, called The Best Years of Our Lives. (example shown below, right)

On August 26th, the group announced their fourth album iridescence to be released in September.^[22] On September 13th, a tracklist was posted to Twitter alongside the release date of September 21st, with the album being revealed to be part of a new trilogy called "The Best Years of Our Lives."^[27] On September 20th, the day before the release of iridescence, the group uploaded the music video for the song "J'ouvert" off the new album (shown below). The album received generally positive reviews upon release.

Ginger

On July 18th, 2019, the group's official Twitter account uploaded a video showcasing the members' faces and revealing the title of their fifth studio record Ginger along with a release date set for August 2019 (shown below). The album follows the release of member Kevin Abstract's album Arizona Baby in April 2019.

pic.twitter.com/bQOUnuVtBv

— BROCKHAMPTON (@brckhmptn) July 18, 2019

On July 31st, the group premiered the lead single from the album "I Been Born Again." The music video gained over 400,000 views within 19 hours.

Reputation

Brockhampton have described themselves with phrases such as "all-American" and "boy band", with the latter being used to break the standard as to, and redefine what a boy band really is according to Kevin Abstract, along with allowing more versatility in their music^[23], with Kevin Abstract tweeting that despite not being white and making good music, it didn't demean their status as a boy band (shown below).

The group has received support from artists such as Halsey, Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda, producer Diplo, rapper and actor Jaden Smith, to whom Kevin Abstract is friends with, singer Alexander Olly of synthpop act Years & Years, along with actor Ansel Elgort, along with having a Viceland docuseries titled "American Boyband," which has also been received positively.

Online Relevance

On Twitter, Brockhampton's official account has accumulated over 337,000 followers since its creation in December 2014..^[24] A subreddit dedicated to the group, created by Redditor deadshadow has over 58,000 subscribers since its creation in January 2015.^[25] The group's Facebook page has garnered over 94,000 likes.^[26] On Youtube, the band's official account has gathered over 430,000 subscribers since its creation in April 2011.^[28] On Instagram, the group has gathered over 634,000 followers.^[29] Group members also maintain their own social media accounts as well^[30], with the most popular member in terms of followers being Kevin Abstract, with over 379,000 Twitter followers^[31] and over 420,000 Instagram followers.^[32]

Fandom

Dumbasses

Related Memes

Me Llamo Roberto

Me Llamo Roberto is a catchphrase spoken by member Robert Ontenient in the beginning of most of the band's music videos and in some of the skits in the Saturation trilogy. The phrase has led to multiple YouTube compilations of the moments (shown below).

Search Interest

External References