Kevin Abstract
Blush
Album · Alternative · 2025
When hip-hop supergroup BROCKHAMPTON broke up in 2022, they announced what was billed as the group’s final album; in reality, The Family functioned more like a solo album from founder and de facto leader Kevin Abstract, who helmed the project as its only vocalist. Blanket, the first solo Abstract album since BROCKHAMPTON’s breakup, arrived the following year, departing almost entirely from rap to wallow in moody indie rock and grunge. Two years later, its follow-up, Blush, feels like a full-circle moment: Here Abstract assumes more of a curatorial role, regularly ceding focus to a deep roster of collaborators, including former BROCKHAMPTON bandmates Ameer Vann, Romil Hemnani, and Kiko Merley, plus alt-rap heroes Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA and frequent collaborator Dominic Fike.
The title doubles as the name of the loose collective of Houston-based musicians who appear across the album’s 18 tracks: Love Spells, roro, E Bleu, Makana XO, Truly Young, Diego, Drigo, DERBY, and Devan. Between grimy Texas boom-bap, alt-rock breakup ballads, and a Sublime-channeling ska jam (“Geezer”), it’s got the scope to take in all the lives Abstract has lived over the years.