Every day, we're seeing the worlds of electronic music and hip-hop come together, and while many feel like these are new movements, DJs and producers like Skrillex and Diplo know that "this long road was no accident." That's not a quote from Diplo or Skrillex, but a line from the first track off of the Society of Num3ers' new free EP. This society is made up of Armanni Reign and The Upbeats, figured who've mad noise for over a decade in the drum & bass realm, but have also dipped and dabbled in a number of different sounds. Society of Num3ers is their official collaborative project, which channels all of the sonic wonderment they picked up outside of hip-hop applied in a hip-hop mindstate.
Over this six-track release, no punches are pulled. Armanni applies his poison pen to the fat-bottomed tracks that The Upbeats provide. It's funny; we remember a time when tracks like this would sound so foreign pre-Yeezus, but now that the mainstream has at least been fully indoctrinated in the pulsating, bombastic rhythms that can work in the hip-hop realm, it's time for those who have been in the know to rise, pull the rest of the wool from the eyes of the masses, and push the envelope even further. Lucky for us, it bangs–hard–but also makes you think. Reign isn't on some frilly shit; these are hard-hitting rhymes weaved with intricate lyrics over future boom-bap. Worlds truly colliding for a society that's made up of numbers.
