Track of the Day: Remi Feat. Whosane “5 A.M.” (2019)

Remi, the duo of Melbourne emcee Remi Kolawole and producer Sensible J, have been quiet on all fronts as of late. No more.

The House of Beige artists have teamed with Whosane for a slick track called “5 A.M.”, bubbling back to the forefront of the local hip hop scene with this muse on a past toxic relationship.

Sensible J’s bouncy, organic production drives this one, laying a royal red carpet for Remi’s kingly multi-layered rhymes, playful as he tackles a rollercoaster relationship with punctuated raps and velvety vocals. As if that wasn’t enough, Whosane comes in to add some crucial texture, flinging it back to 90’s R&B as Sensible J flips the West Coast-tinged beat. As with many of Remi’s tracks, it’s a wild and vivid run of storytelling, and a confident statement from some of Australian hip hop’s contemporary heroes.

“I wrote 5 A.M. when I was locked in the house for a couple of days with the flu. I guess I was trying to get all the shit out of my body or something because my mind wandered to a toxic past relationship and I just needed to write about it”, explained Kolawole. “I hadn’t dealt with many parts of it, so there was a lot of real time processing and redrafting before I could properly articulate the whole situation”.

Stay updated on all things Remi over on Facebook

If you’re over in the UK anytime soon you can catch Remi supporting Detroit rapper-producer Black Milk on the following dates:

11th August – Band on the Wall, Manchester (supporting Black Milk)
12th August – The Fleece, Bristol (supporting Black Milk)
13th August – Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds (supporting Black Milk)
15th August – Jazz Cafe, London

Photo: Michelle Grace Hunder.

Chris Singh

Chris Singh is an Editor-At-Large at the AU review, loves writing about travel and hospitality, and is partial to a perfectly textured octopus. You can reach him on Instagram: @chrisdsingh.