#thedarkestdim

From garage gigs to making a global influence, the Northern Irish band, Two Door Cinema Club, has announced a North American tour celebrating the 15th anniversary of their award-winning 2010 album, Tourist History!

Presales begin TOMORROW, March 17 at 10AM local time.

General sale starts March 20 at 10AM local time.

Brooklyn-born lyrical genius spits hot fire on her upcoming album, The Dragon of the East, giving her competition a run for their money.

She and hip hop were born adjacent, so her music career was etched in the cosmos.

Nickky Amarachi Obi, who performs under the moniker MaRah Obay, is the Concrete Jungle’s next rising star. Born January 22, 2003 in Brooklyn New York, better known as the County of Kings, to two Nigerian parents, the Igbo adaeze (princess) grew up steeped in both royal West African heritage and New York grit. She fell in love with music, dance, and writing at a young age, and she knew early on who she was and where she wanted to go.

In an August interview with THEDARKESTDIM, the rapper opened up about her musical voyage: the highs, the lows, the joyrides, and the moments of burning rubber.

MaRah Obay’s music is marked by razor-sharp wordplay; similes that punch like Tyson and metaphors that shoot like Steph Curry, going “straight to ya medulla.” The Dragon of the East is her first official mixtape, and across its tracks, she leans into her cold-blooded rap persona, spitting hot fire and taking her opponents out song by song.

With her witty punchlines at the forefront, MaRah Obay surprises listeners through her instrumental range on this project, which gives the tape a 90's hip hop and R&B undertone. Beyond that, she flexes her songwriting skills, embracing choruses and hooks more than ever; a shift from her previous releases, which were often freestyles delivered bar-for-bar.

Last Monday, up-and-coming Nigerian rap artist Seth Fx (pronounced fox) released a project titled, Are You Still Nigerian If You Live In Your Head? His music is heavily influenced by surrealist rap and underground experimental hip hop. The way Seth moves through his work is like a fox: sharp and strategic. 

The title alone is philosophical and begs the listener to ponder the question: Is cultural identity able to survive psychological isolation?

There is a Gothic feel to the cover art. Skull figures are depicted digging into their exposed bloody brains, layered over a newspaper collage filled with commentary around leadership, democracy, and integrity. One segment boldly warns listeners to “BEWARE OF POLITICIANS.” Together, the cover art and title frame the project as both psychologically introspective and politically conscious. 

This project contains 11 songs with a total runtime of 28 minutes. Seth Fx wears his influences on his sleeves. Similar to Earl Sweatshirt and Capital STEEZ, he effortlessly delivers complex abstract word play over loop driven instrumentals. Opening with “pajadelphia intro,” Seth attempts to throw listeners into the everyday chaos of the streets of Lagos before guiding them through the psychological landscape that follows.

Throughout the project, recurring themes of violence, politicians, corruption, death, grief, distrust, frustration and survival emerge. Instead of approaching these topics directly, Seth filters them through his own psyche, so listeners can experience both the environment around him and the emotional consequences. 

On the song “honey, i’m not coming home pt. 3” there’s an instant sense of dread established by the short news report of a fatal car crash killing three men in Abuja. This track to me is one of the project's most emotionally compelling moments. Seth paints a vivid portrait of grief and psychological exhaustion over melancholic production. By the end of the song, the listener wonders was Seth the driver and the killer?  

On the song “folake” it’s evident Seth is frustrated with mediocrity: upset with people settling for crumbs and waiting on circumstances to magically improve. This track represents a recurring tension throughout the project: awareness of one's circumstances without losing oneself in them. 

Beneath the murkiness of the project lies a sense of hope: there’s a deeper desire to become liberated from the sarcophagus of his psyche and claustrophobic environment. However, it’s the faith in his pen that motivates him to survive another day. His artistic arrogance is undercut in almost every track: “Who better than me? Nobody / Nobody can come guard me.” Seth leaves a message to his competitors: if you think you can touch him, think again because “When it come to the bull shit [he’s] over fluent.” 

The project also includes three rap features and an interlude with a solo vocalist, helping expand the project's emotional range. The woman’s voice creates contrast and provides a moment of softness amid an otherwise bleak listening experience.

A sample-driven instrumental closes out the project: “miss u outro,” is an upbeat track that juxtaposes much of the tape’s grim content. Like waving goodbye to a friend after a memorable visit, the outro uses no words, yet still manages to say a lot.

BLVDBRADLEY is an emerging artist, heavily leaning into the dark R&B soundscape. 

His visuals are often aesthetic and abstract, centering himself through close-up shots and controlled lighting. His cover art ranges from black and white to, more recently, hues of moody blues and greens. 

In 2025 he released two projects—Pain Tolerance and Now It’s Over II—both of which demonstrated strong vocals and emotionally convincing storytelling, further cementing him as an artist and showcasing his ability to produce cohesive bodies of work.

His latest singles are PORNSTAR, JUST US, HIGH OFF LOVE, and NIRVANA. 

A new tape is on the way. Hidden Desires is dropping on 5.22.26. 

--- An R&B masterpiece comparable to a godless church. 'Trilogy' inadvertently became a mirror for the masses—where fans found themselves confronting their own demons and goblins. ---

Abel Tesfaye, who performs under the alias, The Weeknd, is a Canadian-Ethiopian singer-songwriter and record producer who rose to stardom through his SoundCloud singles. His raw lyrics and soulful vocalization were attractive to a global audience, allowing him to quickly mobilize a loyal fan base and grab the attention of a fellow Canadian music mogul: Drake. Awe-struck by Abel’s talent, Drake quickly offered the singer a record deal with his label, OVO Records. Surprisingly, Abel turned the deal down, stating that he didn’t want to sign under another artist; instead he created his music label called XO Records in 2011. That same year, The Weeknd released a tripartite of mixtapes: House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence. In 2012, under XO and Republic Records, the singer reissued these mixtapes along with new material to create his first compilation and major label debut album titled Trilogy.

The project is a 2-hour and 40-minute listen, containing 30 songs. Drake and the former Three Six Mafia member, Juicy J, are the only two features. As the title suggests, Trilogy is a three-part project, each composed of 10 songs. Consistent throughout all three sections are themes of seduction, loneliness, pleasure, self-hate, and existential dread. The tripartite, one by one, uncovers the destructive cycle of The Weeknd’s interior world marked by drug addiction, hyper-sexuality, and, inability to decipher love and lust. Upon the release, Trilogy successfully charted at number 5 in Canada. In the United States, it debuted at number 4 and appeared on 7 charts for 66 weeks. The album was certified multi-platinum in both countries. More than a decade after its release, the album is still extremely popular amongst fans. According to music experts, The Weeknd’s Trilogy has reached 5 billion streams on Spotify—making it his 5th most-streamed album daily on the platform.

I theorize that Trilogy’s ongoing success is largely due to its rawness, vulnerability, and relatability. The music is evocative, melancholic, and tragically gorgeous. In each song, it’s apparent that The Weeknd is in agony. His voice feels like warfare because underneath the pain, a desire to be liberated from his self-made sarcophagus is audible.

Trilogy’s lyricism is straightforward and expressive. The instrumentals are unconventional yet polished, and Abel’s delivery is sincere. This album inadvertently became a mirror for the masses, where fans found themselves confronting their own demons and goblins.

The Weeknd’s compilation is comparable to a godless church. In short, it’s a sanctuary: a place of refuge. Abel’s transparency of his tumultuous inner world is one that his audience also relates to--but they are also struggling to confront largely due to stigma: drug abuse, sex addiction, trauma, and self-hate are rejected topics in mainstream society. For many of his followers, the album serves as a personal altar; a space to confess sins and cry out for help. In this space, listeners feel comfortable enough to show up as their imperfect and shattered selves.

Trilogy is successful because it was a catalyst for self-healing. It transformed a multitude of tormented souls into their own redeemers. I was 11 years old when this album dropped, and I remember instantly falling in love with it. The project was a token of bravery; I was impressed by how delicately Abel could vocalize tragedy, and I admired his vulnerability to share such a dark piece of art with the public.

In its most abstract form, this project is a gothic take on Genesis Chapter 3. Trilogy is a modern interpretation of the descent of humanity or what Christians refer to as the “Fall of Man.” Originally, man was made to live in union with God’s divine life. After Adam and Eve fell into temptation, their sins separated them from God, bringing death and misery into the world.

When I listen to this tape, I can’t help but draw parallels to the Renaissance. The artistic production during that epoch was binary and portrayed the same message: the duality of man. Good vs. Evil, Right vs. Wrong? Ego vs. Soul, Creator vs. Creation. This musical composition is deeply religious and philosophical.

The Weeknd’s Trilogy is a melodic romanticization of the condition of hell, or what being in separation from God feels like. In this chronicle, Abel strayed away from God and into an experience of sin. According to Christian theological interpretations the consequences of rejecting God are inner emotional turmoil, and we become spiritually dead. When our souls are unprotected from divine love, we become exposed to demonic attacks and fall into destructive cycles.

As the lyrics throughout the entire project suggest, The Weeknd has hit rock bottom. His separation from God caused him to spiral downward into an abyss of mental confusion, and he began to find ephemeral reassurance through self-harming behaviors.

Unequivocally, Trilogy is gothic. The tape is violent…very violent: it’s an emotional disturbance. However, Trilogy is flirtatious, relatable, and impeccably smooth…and that’s why it’s impossible to resist.

Summer Walker, SZA, and Mariah the Scientist are the go-to artists for young girls and women who were “in their feelings"--the ones who needed songs that captured the heart break ache they couldn’t translate into words.

But before they hit the charts, it was Tink who had Chicago girls deep in their feelings. In 2012, at just 16 years old, Trinity Home, professionally known as Tink, released her first official mixtape Winter’s Diary. What started as one tape, turned into a full series: the most recent being Winter’s Diary 5 (2024).

With hits across the Winter’s Diary catalog like “Bonnie & Clyde,” “Count on You,” “I Like,” “Surprizes,” and “Songs About U,” her most streamed track remains “Treat Me Like Somebody” (2014), with 1.46 billion total streams and over 57K daily streams.

Experts say the United States will experience a major polar vortex this December: the coldest arctic air in over a decade. And honestly, I can’t help but wonder if Tink had anything to do with this.

Which is your favorite tape of the Winter’s Diary series?