Black Haus is an enigmatic group hailing from Greensboro, NC. Their Spotify profile describes the group as “Four unapologetic black men making music together in a time when bands are dead. Black Haus is reinventing what it means to be black in todays era. No genre boundaries. No artistic limits. No conforming.”
True to their declaration of genre fluidity, every time you think you’ve pinpointed Black Haus’ sound, the group flows into new form. Take “Removed” the song that first piqued my interest and the lead track from their 2020 EP Mss Thang. Akin to the most pervasive pop trend of the 2020s (see: Dua Lipa, The Weeknd, Miley Cyrus) this track drips of 80’s nostalgia. A new take on New Wave with catchy guitar riffs and a Morrisey-esque vocal cadence.
The final track of Mss Thang, “Rich Petty”, stands in stark contrast to “Removed”; bookends that are anything but symmetrical. “Rich Petty” opens with a Pharrell inspired production that quickly progresses into Trap. As soon as the listener sinks into the song’s flux, the vocals and tone shift to feature a slinky croon. “Rich Petty” continues to shapeshift grounded by the groovy backbone. Even within a single track Black Haus refuses to color within the lines. Through the lens of ‘Rich Petty”, Black Haus perhaps would best be compared to Phony Ppl, another groovy group who seamlessly blend R&B, Jazz, and Hip Hop. However, I’m reluctant to compare Black Haus to any one entity. They are not following a formula nor any one musical influence evident by their latest single.
“Divide Em!”, released January 11, 2021, is the sharpest sonic left Black Haus has made to date, dispelling any box one may have created for the group all within 1 minute and 9 seconds. The single is Garage Rock at its core with hasty guitar rhythms and a palpable anger in the vocals as they shout “Silence is Violence”. At first listen, one may wonder if this short track was simply Black Haus’ flex to the world and themselves that they can do any “genre” and do it well. Upon further examination, it is clear this track is much more loaded, as it was released five days after the storming of the U.S. Capitol led by white supremacy groups and Trump fanatics. The track opens with rapid guitar strumming that abruptly cuts to a deep sigh. It appears the singer is preparing themselves for the rage soon to erupt. “Oh you think that it’s just a natural right?” they shout, drawing out the middle of the word resulting in a hybrid between “right” and “riot”. Exactly halfway through the track, the vocalist is joined by the rest of the group evoking a growing sense of power through the collective experience of rage.
I find myself listening to “Divide Em!” on repeat, a cathartic experience as I have felt numb since the insurgence, rage and helplessness simmering in my core, battling one another until exhaustion takes over. “Divide Em!” overpowers that exhaustion, invigorating a call to action within me: We must take this rage and use it as our fuel because we are on the brink of change and our action (or silence) will determine which side of the coin this change falls on. Ah, the power of music.
It is refreshing to hear groups like Black Haus who upon seeing the rigid box of the music industry and American society stomp it flat with their left foot. When you strip it all away – When boundaries fall, genres bleed, and “bands are dead” – what is left? The realization that borders are chosen and imaginary. That placing artists into a box is more a reflection of the listener’s own biases than the group’s sound. That the best and most powerful art happens outside the lines.
