Hip-hop has often given way to some of the most creative ways to collaborate. In a post-Covid world, Discord community and burgeoning hip-hop collective Hidden Renaissance is rethinking the way we view rap collectives. Their debut single “The Hidden Ones” is an immaculately produced posse cut that is seething with character that will force you to tune into what could be a heavyweight rap supergroup for years to come.
The result of a gladiatorial weeding-out process that saw only the finest 5 verses of artists in their community make the track, “The Hidden Ones” sounds appropriately ravenous. Featuring emcees Snick Foley, King Quad, LANO, Pareto, and DEADPAN over the brown_buddha-produced beat, this track calls to mind old-school underground heavyweights as the lyrical quintet sharpen their skills and trade verses over the nearly 5-minute long track. It never lags, and always stays consistently deliberate throughout as you can tell Hidden Renaissance has the quality control to easily buoy long runtimes.
An interesting experiment into crowdsourcing hip-hop, the nearly 50-member community is taking the idea of hip-hop collectivism to the extreme in something that feels both trailblazing and familiar in all the right ways. With an experimental project in the works that features the entirety of their collective, get ready to bring this name up to outclass all your underground music snob friends.
