Playlist: Katiah One’s sticky, warped and weepy dreamscape
Enjoy songs from A$AP Rocky, Mac Miller, Frank Ocean, Denitia & Sene, Dead Prez and more!
Welcome to Playlists, a series where we turn over the reigns to artists to curate the next big playlist
Sonic layers blur and fall into one another like a batch of stars hurling through the cosmos. If done correctly, various musical strains never overpowering but complimenting to sterling perfection, a pure state of bliss can be attained and forever unlocked. True to such a form, New York City’s performer, producer and songwriter Katiah One chops down styles of soul, blues and hip-hop on his latest collection, 2018’s A Whole Lotta Water Works EP, zigging and zagging between sheepish lyrical web-spinning and sticky, warped, otherworldly fantasies. But even when he pulls in the reigns a bit, letting the tears fall onto the cold, hard ground, there is a thick and sugary confidence dripping onto each syllable.
Still riding high on the release, which hit everywhere back in December, Katiah One has curated a playlist stemming from such rich musical sensibilities with songs from the late Mac Miller, A$AP Rocky, Andre 3000, Pharoahe Monch and countless others, who have proven as undeniable influences upon his own craftsmanship. Below, he walks B-Sides & Badlands, exclusively sharing the playlist today, through each of his essential cuts and giving insight into an overarching personal impact and its themes.
“Dream Sequence” by Katiah One & Wally Sean
I was really hurt by my ex-girlfriend but not lost or depressed, more so left empty and void with a sense of being out of touch with reality while being hopeful for the future. This is the most lyrical chorus I’ve written, and it serves as the summary and shows my mind state for both verses, as well as serving as a bridge. The second part of the chorus is the thought of the thirst for knowledge and how when we get answers it hurts more sometimes than the lack of knowing: “The truth hurts, the true thirst, the truth hurts.”
I’ve always resonated with this song and the sentiment it gives. I believe in love and the power it holds as a drug, which can do both good and bad. The sonic-scape gives the same feel I was going for with “Dream Sequence.” I always try to make songs that are depressingly-uplifting like the idea of the underdog or something that sounds sad and is actually happy or vice versa.
This song has always been one of my favorite love songs because of the writing and the concept behind it. I’ve always thought this was the most misplaced song on the album, ‘Let’s Get Free,’ and think it fits perfectly on this playlist. Just like “Dream Sequence,” it’s about possibilities of the future while speaking in the now.
My goal when writing is to be clever in the most genuine of corny ways that you can’t help but laugh and feel it. Nipsey Hussle does what I strive for on this with one of, if not my favorite, lines ever from a song: “You can be my number one girl kinda like the letter Aye, Aye, Aye.” I really appreciate how well the backing instrumental emphasizes the sentiment and lyrics of the song, much of which was my approach to “Dream Sequence.”
This is a song I would have liked to have written and reflects my feelings that got me to write “Dream Sequence.” “I’ll get back on my balloon and meet my baby on the moon / Hanging flowers in her room and dancing just to keep my cool.”
When I wrote “Dream Sequence,” I had freshly been dumped for the first time in my life and by the first girl that I’d ever fallen for. At first listen, I thought to myself, “Did A$AP Rocky read my mind?” This song is the same exact feelings I had, and he raps about things I was literally doing at the time, which was blasting sad music being in my feelings, wondering if she was actually happier without me. And I felt like he wrote his own version of “Dream Sequence.”
One of my favorite Frank Ocean songs, and it features Andre 3000, who’s in my top influences. It’s also another song that resonates with my feelings and was my mood for writing “Dream Sequence.”
My favorite Pharoahe Monch song, and the instrumental, as well as lyrics, fit with the soundscape and feeling of everything else on the playlist. The chorus is my thoughts for any girl I’ve ever been in a relationship with.
I chose this song because it’s a reflection of the feelings of being hopeful that I put into the chorus of “Dream Sequence,” and it’s also in the realm of the future while living in the now.
This song always puts me in a good mood in a sad way. And if you couldn’t tell by now, everything on this playlist is about falling in love or losing it. RIP, Mac Miller.
