Karras is a Midwestern alternative rapper whose singular style channels the grit of classic hip-hop through the lens of his aberrant, surreal consciousness. Akin to ‘80s sci-fi depictions of dystopian futures, his off-kilter lyricism is unprecedented and hypnagogic, yet so starkly tangible, that he lures the listener into his lucid fever dream. With his feet firmly planted in two worlds, Karras synthesizes the mystical and material. He is Liquid Swords meets Blade Runner, Enter The Wu meets Escape From New York, ATLiens meets, well… Aliens.
The year is 2020. The location, Planet Earth. Scientists enslaved by an evil corporation are forced to design a breed of android emcees programmed with one primary objective: to descend like a plague upon the global hip hop industry, decimating any remaining shred of originality. With factories worldwide mass producing around the clock, their numbers multiply exponentially by the day. The populous has fallen prey to a deep hypnosis. With only a minute fraction of organic rappers still in existence, rap as the world once knew it is rapidly approaching its expiration date. There is only one surviving creator capable of halting and reversing this devastating threat.
We fade in to find our hero emerging from the embers and debris. Slowly rising to his feet amidst the flurries of ash, wielding a rusty microphone, the flicker of nearby fires reflecting off his weathered face, there stands Karras. With his full-length debut album Karrasmatic exposed to the masses on November 27th 2020, followed by a steady stream of singles, it is here our saga begins.
Track Information: “Veils”
“I wrote and recorded “Veils” to a beat that was already sold,” Karras says. “When I approached the producer of that track to make a similar beat for me, he wasn’t able to recreate what I was looking for. I hit up RaccoBeats, who I had just recently started working with, to reverse engineer something similar yet still unique and as per usual he came through with something even better than the original source material I’d given him.”
“I wrote a good portion of the lyrics while drinking a bourbon stout in a jacuzzi tub and watching a horror movie. That’s my ideal creative setting I think.”
““Veils” is about connecting to your higher self and discovering the creator within. There are times I’ve felt like I’m not writing words as much as I am simply channeling and translating energy that courses through me.”
“Parallel realms overlapping this rapping is telekinesis.”
“There was one night of heavy meditation that something in me suddenly clicked and everything was brought into clear light. My body buzzed with an overwhelming frequency I’d never before or have again experienced. I encountered and conversed with an entity or energy that to this day I do not know if it was and always has been within me, is entirely external or is simultaneously both. I felt inexplicable forgiveness and the most unconditional love unlike anything I’d ever come to receive. All questions were answered without having to formulate the questions. I understood just how much control I could have of my own reality. I experienced my own physical impermanence. It felt as though I was most certainly dying and passing on from this realm. It seemed Nature was revealing itself to me. When the intensity subsided, I pulled out my tarot deck and asked ‘what the hell just happened?’ I drew one card. It was The Tower. It certainly seemed to be a fitting answer. Much of what I had become by that point had shattered in one single night and from there I have since picked up the pieces I wanted to keep along with some I did not and have rebuilt myself into who and what I am today. While I still interpret and experience this realm from behind many veils, I have a remembrance for what I feel may lie on the other side. Many moments I live behind several layers of separation from that state of mind. Some moments, a few of them lift, allowing me a more clear visual. I carry that experience with me throughout all of my interactions and especially in my music.”
“…paradigms shattered and fractured. Stare in the glare of a pair of diamond eyes shining in facets.”
“The latter portion of the song really starts to delve into the experience of coming back down to Earth, back into the limitations of ego. The frustrations of having felt something so numinous within myself yet not being able to fully live with that in my heart. I’ve come to feel that I’m not ready to live in that state. I hang on to my ego for a reason. There’s more I have to work through. But the lifting of my veils has shown me the inevitable conclusion to help me better steer myself along. That night informs my entire Karras persona. And the Karras persona is just me but with a bit more bravado.”
“True will magnetic. These words my blood, I let it. Aesthetic sells yet I ain’t selling, instead exude kinetic.”
