Channel Tres is the first international artist featured as Beat’s Editor’s Pick.
Up until this point, it’s been reserved for emerging local acts pushing the envelope of their capability – it’s as much about experimentation as it is about expression. But for this instalment, we’re taking a voyage across the Pacific.
This rapidly rising Compton artist is more than a rapper, he’s an infuser of groove and a tastemaker of dance. The bedrock of hip hop is its production, but not often does the genre pave way for a post-midnight escapade like this.
Channel Tres made himself known with the house party that was his eponymous debut EP in 2018. Black Moses consolidates that and then some. It’s contextually shrewd – Channel Tres is fighting a racial crusade that often has him up against the wall and, as ‘Sexy Black Timberlake’ examines the objectification and sexualisation of a Black performer, there’s enlightenment in oft-unexplored discussion.
The music of Tyler, The Creator benefits from the wunderkind’s multifarious music taste and Channel Tres’ Iggy Pop-inspired track ‘Raw Power’ spotlights an artist without the blinkers on. We might have Moodymann to thank for Channel Tres’ dance inquisition, but aren’t we so much better for artists willing to change lanes?
