Unearthed: Haleek Maul & Supreme Cuts— Chrome Lips

​Haleek Maul and Supreme Cuts got a good thing going. Their recent joint performance at Brooklyn’s Glasslands Gallery (young Haleek’s first stateside appearance) bristled with a creative energy based on a mutual admiration of each other’s work. Haleek is a sucker for the kind of dark, ambiance-heavy musical theatrics that Mike and Austin have been cultivating in the Windy City for some time now. Both members of the production duo are enthusiastic rap fans – as evidenced recently on their drill-heavy Fader Mix and visibly enjoy the opportunity of working with one of the most talented up-and-coming wordsmiths around.

A match made in heaven? Well, maybe more like in hell. Chrome Lips is Tartarus put in song, dungeon domicile of damned souls. Sup Cuts’ gloomy synth-orchestration and paranoid drum-work is echoed by Haleek’s knack for saying scary shit and sounding cool while doing so. “Judas, Jesus, Peter can not save me, girl, just give me head/ I am not a person, I’m just verses stuck inside your head,” he raps on “Gully” for instance. Thus roaming his mental underworld in search of inspiration and/or catharsis, Darth Maul, Jr. executes his inner demons with a lightsaber whenever he steps up to the mic. On “Moon” he mourns a lost love – or rather lust, “Hoverboard” dissects exactly this self-destructive mode of long-lasting regret. And there’s anger, too. Mike and Austin crank up the testosterone modulator on tracks like “Chrome Lips” and “Simon Sayz” to keep up with Haleek’s amplified aggression, which at times mutates into a misogyny he apparently hates himself for. Chrome Lips works in that it vividly paints the picture of a tormented soul, expressed through the shared vision of a production/rap-combo that has found a mutual, murky territory.