“HAZEY (The EP)” finds a way to highlight every element of its artistry

Hazey aka Yung Doowee is a 19 year old producer and artist from Dallas, Texas. He moved to Portland 2 years ago and has devoted himself to his music. His latest EP release is the 10 track self-titled “HAZEY (The EP)”. Hazey oscillates between extremes of exhilarating and surreal, through the album, both musically and lyrically. There’s plenty of wheedled and growled phraseology, as well as temperate and tuneful melodic singing, too. Hazey, makes the eccentricities of “HAZEY (The EP)” sound like embryonic visions of a future, calculating take on trap music. The results are something to behold. In its sonic specificity and imaginativeness, this recording makes for a unified project, mixing a direct aim at crossover tunes and inspired flights of stylistic fancy that characterize the always eclectic tracks.

Even when the hooks on the opening track “Work” (Feat. Chucky Brawlz) [Prod. Hazey] are startlingly symmetrical and intelligible, the verses still wind off into slithering leftfield territory, reminding us that Hazey is not the type of artist that could convincingly render himself anonymous. Nor should he: “Stainz/Traphouse’s” (Prod. Hazey) visceral appeal is enhanced by its twisted verses as much as its beatific chorus, which erupts into unabashed singing – another of Hazey’s strongpoints.

Part of the fun of this project comes when Hazey finds ways to twist his voice into new shapes, something he executes with ease and melodic brilliance on the nuanced “Understand Me” (Prod. Hazey). Like most tracks on “HAZEY (The EP)”, Hazey finds a way here to highlight every element of his artistry that rap fans would find compelling.

And some of the tracks found on the EP are subtly gorgeous too: the way the piano on “My Escape” (Prod. Hazey) is capped off by the track’s warm nudges of changing tempos and electronic soundscape, is an organizational feat in itself, evidencing the tighter sense of discipline at work here.

Its songs like this which suggest that Hazey is an artist with a very long career still ahead of him, one whose bag of tricks may never run out as long as he continues to maintain his uncompromising identity, which he promptly dusts off and proposes in two versions on “WantU2” (prod. Hazey) and “Get Loose” (Prod. Hazey).

The more you listen, the more you’re likely to find, and the more you find, the more you’re likely to love “HAZEY (The EP)”. And you’ll find some very poignant moments too, especially in the shape of “I Know, She Knows” [Prod. Hazey], and the EP closer “Clouds” (Prod. Ryan Haze) – Ryan Haze x Julian Outlaw x Fresh x Chuckee Brawls.

Hazey’s forays into melodic territory are well documented throughout this recording and his ear for it is even more impressive. And through his vocal eccentricities he finds ways to surprise on each and every track, as he does on these final two.

Throughout “HAZEY (The EP)”, Hazey’s ability to turn the ordinary into something strange and listenable is unmatched. The way his voice strains and bends is fantastically weird, but it’s just as good at showing restraint as it is performing acrobatics. In the end, everything is positive in this project. Hazey delivers a creative EP that evokes feelings of integrity, exuberance, and the desire to quickly spin it a couple more times.

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