It was interesting to see Thutmose on the list of artists to write about because he came up on my own listening. He was featured on the track Faded by Alex Mail. She is also a New York artist who makes alternative hip-hop/r&b. Thutmose’s artist style represents his African roots and his New York upbringing. The song selected of his was the song Memories , a song made for the animated Spiderman move Into the Spiderverse. Starting with even his artist name Thutmose, which he gets from the name of an Egyptian Pharaoh. Egyptian elements are part of his artist motifs as well, with a scarab appearing under his artist name in the music video. This motif is continued in the music video with the appearance of a Pharaoh tomb. In this song the backtrack is clearly influenced by Caribbean/African styles of music. I couldn’t narrow down whether it was Caribbean of African though to me it sounded more dancehall influenced. This is also an influence in his upbringing as a New Yorker, as many Black New Yorkers come from Caribbean and African families and these sounds are very integral to their cultural upbringing. He does not have a traditional voice in hip-hop, with almost a singing- raspiness it is also evident of an influence of the cadence and voice of Afrobeat artists. More than being an emcee Thutmose seems to just be a hip-hop artists that bends on the line of Afrobeat and Dancehall. His music while incorporating all of these traditional Black music genres he also brings an alternative twist to these traditional sounds, reflective of what people now call “internet music”, this kind of distorted groove that has become popular in interweb music spaces. Always in his bio, he makes it clear he is Nigerian born and New York raised and he incorporates all elements of the diaspora in his music.
