Brockhampton brings togetherness to a new level

The 13 members of Brockhampton — a selfappointed “boy band” collective that with a diverse and self-starting crew of rappers and producers who met online are a defiantly 21st-century spin on the traditional hip-hop crew — have spent a great deal of time together.

Initially spread across the country and meeting on the internet via a Kanye West fan forum, when the group finally linked up in person they all lived and created music together in a cramped house in South Central Los Angeles. In fact, not until they’d broken big, released a trio of critically acclaimed albums and signed a $15 million deal with RCA Records, did the members finally decide it was best to get their own respective residences.

While tough to get used to, having time and space away from one another proved fruitful. When Brockhampton reconvened earlier this year to begin work on what became “Ginger,” the experimental, trippy new album released this fall, the group members recognized there was a new and necessary spark happening. “When we came back together it was really refreshing,” rappergroup member Dom McLennon said, calling from New York one morning. “We all missed each other. And creatively I think it brought a lot to the table because so many of us went through different things and we didn’t really didn’t know what some people were up to until we started making music again. So we started really diving into how each other’s lives were doing even in that short time apart.”

The result is the group’s most soul-baring work yet.

“I feel like it’s an accumulation of what we’ve been through and our relationships,” said group member Matt Champion, speaking to the wild ride he and his bandmates have been on since first connecting circa 2009, forming a loose collective around de facto leader Kevin Abstract and sacrificing time, energy and physical well-being to churn out a brand of R&Binfused hip-hop that immediately caught fire.

Their creative process, Abstract explained, despite sounding sonically cohesive and deliberated, is usually sporadic and offthe-cuff. “We’ll have conversations but it’s never too calculated or anything,” he said of the genesis of their albums. “But we’ll talk about where we are at in our heads sonically and the type of direction we should follow. But normally we just get in there and throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. That’s the best process for us.”

For now, Brockhampton’s journey finds the group onstage near every night the remainder of this year while on its nationwide tour. Speaking hours after a show in Atlanta, McLennon said like near everything else they’ve done to date, their power as a live unit lies in their unity.

And where is the group headed? “We can pretty much take our time and do what feels right,” Champion said. “That’s what we’ve been doing lately and it seems to be working out.”

ASHLAN GREY Dom McLennon, from left, Matt Champion, Kevin Abstract, Joba, Bearface and Merlyn Wood of Brockhampton, a self-described hip-hop “boy band.”