On their second album in as many months, the Los Angeles rap crew keep developing their sleek and cool performance style but offer new bouts of aggression and swagger.The catchiest BROCKHAMPTON songs isolate one glossy element—like a keyboard arpeggio on their debut’s “Gold” or string plucks on II’s “Jello”—atop the mix as stand-ins for richer, fuller beats. The production on II continues in the same form as their debut: cool, funky, and polished, with just enough odd ornaments (a swirling G-funk synth on “Gummy,” a snake charmer’s melody on “Sweet”) to stand out from the mainstream. But there’s a grimier mood that adds to the record’s urgency. Kevin Abstract begins “Junky” with a ferocious verse about being queer—“‘Why you always rap about being gay?’” he shouts, “’Cause not enough niggas rap and be gay!”—and even when his bandmates rap with less objective gravity, the coiled beats makes them feel just as important.
