There are hundreds, if not thousands, of rappers in Milwaukee, none with a voice quite as powerful or evocative as Lorde Fredd33’s. The Milwaukee iconoclast raps in a rich, unmistakable growl that oozes grit, weariness and determination—he sounds the way Sisyphus might sound have after logging another grueling 18-hour day of pushing a boulder up a hill. It’s a voice that speaks volumes more than any lyric alone ever could.
For the last few years, Fredd33 has been making music that’s every bit as distinctive as that voice, and this year in particular he’s been releasing some of his wildest, most form-breaking songs yet. Today he shares another one: “Sanctified,” the opening track from his upcoming album Norf.
It’s a gospel track, but a far cry from the uplifting gospel coming out of our neighbors in the Chicago. Instead his spin on church music is ominous and abstracted, shaded by severe shadows. It casts a chill.
“Sanctified” depicts salvation as a kind of labor, something that’s earned, not granted, and it’s accompanied by a violent, strangely beautiful music video that plays on images of repentance and rebirth, directed by Fredd33 himself. If this is the kind of individualistic statement we can expect from Norf—and we hope it is—then we’re in store for something special.
“The goal is to present a new sound and mindset,” Fredd33’s longtime producer and collaborator Q the Sun says of the upcoming album, “music that depicts a specific place and time, and at the same time transcends that space by opening new possibilities.”
You can stream the video below.
