Gather two of Sydney’s freshest, emerging hip-hop talents & put them in a studio for 2 months & let them cook up uninterrupted & what do you get? ‘The Chubby Tape’, (CHUBBY, Chub.e & YIBBY) born out of a collaboration between Sydney based hip-hop artist YIBBY & Sydney based producer Chub.e & presented by Low Key Source ‘The Chubby Tape’ is conceptually 7 records & one body of work that is ‘good for the soul’. A somewhat subtle shot at the microwavable trends of today’s music landscape, ‘The Chubby Tape’ aims to satisfy a desire for music that carries a bit of weight.
Sonically ‘The Chubby Tape’ hits you with that familiar nostalgic feeling from the jump but not in an out of touch throwback way, a more refreshing up-lift to traditional hip-hop recipes. Thematically the project similarly speaks to musings of hip-hop of days gone by but through a fresh & intentionally obviously Australian lens. The sequencing of these sonics take you gradually through shifts in energy & tempo along the narrative line of the project. With moments of grit & poise on ‘Syd City’ & ‘Chocolate’, featuring Sydney’s Josef, against periods of desire & subtle charm on ‘Low Rise Jeans’. Similarly, the narrative is underpinned by the structure, starting sharp, moving towards a high energy centre point on ‘Late Nights’, collecting itself & reassuring its emotions on ‘Prada’ assisted by New York based rapper/producer Hiero & ‘Roll With Me’ and then fading out into the distance for a piece of closing awareness in ‘You Bring The Sun Out’. Also, the time of day is often referred to through out the record as a subplot to the main theme of the album – time & movement is a constant.
Roll-outs stunts, Tiktok dances, PR campaigns aside‘The Chubby Tape’ goes back to the essence of what it is to make hip-hop music, two homies coming together to make a moment, to make a record. No hidden agendas & big budgets pulling people together, it’s all organic & you can tell that as YIBBY delivers ‘Chub.e on the f**cking beat’ or something to that nature to start just about every track.