Caleb Brown

Nineteen-year-old rapper Caleb Brown is already a promising new independent voice in hip-hop, with how he depicts his hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to devastating effect in his“Batonstan” series. Yet his fifth EP BROWN shows how he has an even clearer sense of self today. “I’ve broken my shell and had a self-esteem boost,” he says. “I can finally be me.”

During high school, Caleb Brown first imagined that he would grow up to be a basketball star, but his grades failed to qualify him to play. Then a friend urged him to listen to Nas. “I studied Illmatic for the longest time, trying to mimic his storytelling capabilities,” Brown says. The teenage rapper was also coming to terms with how mental illness can affect one’s outlook: After watching his mother work as a nurse aid in group homes, and essentially growing up in such facilities, Brown was diagnosed as bipolar, as he spells out in BROWN’s second track “Mob”without a trace of irony.

Caleb Brown graduated from high school to a record deal with Rostrum Records and an ideafor what he had to offer. “I didn’t want to be Kendrick anymore. I didn’t want to do what Nas was doing anymore. I wanted to be me. I think I’ve got a grip on that,” he says.

For BROWN, the titular rapper worked closely with producer and Atlanta trap veteran Sonny Digital, exchanging and sharpening ideas for songs over the course of eight months. The end result is five sinister Southern hip-hop bangers. Brown may sound like he is having fun as he hungers for personal success, with his punchy hooks and pit stop at a strip club. But a closer
listen reveals how he is also wrestling with thoughts of infidelity (“Player’s Club”), addiction (“American Bulldozer”) and depression. “I don’t want to live if death is all I think about,” he confesses in “Wanted,” a song where he grants a closer look at his inner psyche. “When I was diagnosed, I started looking at myself different,” Brown says. “When they tell you that everything
you like is a result of an illness, it’s a mindfuck.”

Caleb Brown plans to reveal even more of himself in his debut album. For now, his latest EP isa promising teaser of what he has to offer.