WebsterX & Q the Sun • KidX
After weeks of asking, “Who is KidX?”, Milwaukee MC WebsterX finally let loose his three song EP, where all of the songs gather direct inspiration from Radiohead's monumental album Kid A. As Webster describes on SoundCloud: “The hashtag #whoiskidx acts as Webster and Q's lightning rod to bring all of the content and fans together and steers them towards whoiskidx.com, a website that hosts all of the information about the EP as promo for its release date November 17th, 2015.” Alongside this release, WebsterX and producer Q the Sun tagged posters around their Cream City, hosted a listening party at a disco room, and even inaugurated WebsterX's own signature slice of pizza at their local pie shop Ian's.
KidX is three tracks that clock in at almost eleven minutes. But rather than feel like three separate songs, the quick EP gives off the feel of one long composition. Q the Sun did his damnedest to make this seamless and cohesive and his effort isn't overlooked. With KidX, we have a handful of samples from Radiohead's Kid A, but they aren't super noticeable. Don't expect to hear simple flips of “Idioteque” or “The National Anthem”. Instead, this is more inspired than sampled, as original instrumentation and choruses take note of Radiohead, but do not steal. For all eleven minutes, Webster is rapping his rapping ass off, with help from Lex Allen on the hook for “New Age”. With Q the Sun and Lex Allen as the only artists involved in the EP, KidX is their collective New Age Narcissism (NAN) through and through.
Throughout, Web spits, he harmonizes, he repeats infectious sing-a-longs, he vibes. Instrumental switch-ups and vocal switch-ups happen without warning in the middle of these tracks, so while it's a three song EP, it's really a short film, a project without barriers. The Milwaukee talents continue to prove themselves with outputs like this, not fitting into a standard mold within the hip-hop/rap world. Instead, WebsterX seems to be paving an artistic lane for himself, one that pours out through his music videos and his impressive live shows, one that shines prominently on this nicely crafted end-of-the-year drop.
“At night, I fall into space.”