Hailing from Boston and Dorchester, MA, the hip-hop duo Weapon releases their long-awaited debut 5-track EP, 'Winterlude.'
Compromised of 25-year-olds Fantasy and DFizz45, Weapon strives to create soundtracks to their everyday lives while also composing bars and melodies that give their audience something to enjoy. "We want to create art that shapes the world. We want to go down as one of the greats in this rap game; it has given so much to us, so it's time for us to give back," states Weapon.
Diving into their debut 5-track EP, 'Winterlude,' the project begins with the first piece, "Fire," and that's precisely what it is. While opening the song with samples of a choir pitched up alongside the deftly-produced drum breaks, Weapon later makes their way in and stomps through this track with incredibly uplifting vibes. Fantasy and DFizz45's vocals perfectly complement each other as they continue to sing playful lyricism that bounces alongside the fiery production. We love the playfulness of this track, as Weapon sets the tone for the rest of the project through their heavily engaging performance.
Bringing the energy down through the next track, "Slow Down," the song begins with haunting r&b keys and downtempo kicks that push through our speakers with lust and desire. As Fantasy starts singing his romantic lyricism surrounding taking his time with a lover and learning their every way, we can't help but feel compelled to keep listening to such a romantic and desirous tune. As DFizz45 makes his way in, he offers a similar sensual flair through his soothing vocals and descriptive lyricism, heating up the song with desire and lust from each aspect while ending it like a daydream.
Drifting into the next tune, "2Hr Drive," this track hits us with incredibly modern production right from the jump. Through an eerie vocal sample that whales in the background and tender r&b keys, the sonics later fall into punchy downtempo drum breaks that soak our speakers in passion. Another heartfelt and desirous song, we adore the amount of unhindered passion and heart that Weapon has delivered throughout this EP. Primarily through this track, Weapon comes together to offer their devotion on a platter and serve it to listeners abound. Ending the song with soothing piano melodies and soft pulsating synths, we love the relaxed and tender feel of this piece.
Spicing it up with the next track, "Who to Blame," a soaring synth opens the track as it later drops into a mid-tempo beat alongside hefty drum kicks and Fantasy's warm vocal tones. As he begins singing of who's to blame when a relationship comes to an end, DFizz45 later joins Fantasy and expresses his inner pains towards a relationship that went south. We can feel their anger and emotion merely within the sharp tone of their voices, as Weapon continues to complement each other's performances as they make their way through this relatable and moody track with vigor.
Reaching the EP's outro track, "No Love," the song begins with haunting electric guitar melodies that offer a melancholy and grunge-like flair through its saddened tones and slightly out of tune sound. As Fantasy and DFizz45 enter the piece, DFizz45 begins rapping of feeling confused whether someone's a friend or foe, while Fantasy later sings of returned and requited love. We also hear a spoken word feature from a soothing female narrator who touches on similar topics of authentic and healthy love. She later begins rapping and powers through this song with empowering themes of leaving foolishness in the past and seeking someone who will treat her the way she deserves.
Find yourself submerged into several heated hip-hop atmospheres through the exhilarating stylings Weapon on their debut EP, 'Winterlude,' available now on all digital streaming platforms.
Congratulations on releasing your debut EP, 'Winterlude.' What inspired your group to release a 5-track EP as your debut, rather than releasing a single by single?
The inspiration behind us releasing a five-track EP as we are very versatile and diverse with our sound so we wanted to give a little bit of everything to the listeners and let them pick their favorite track. I mean we are handing you greatness with our five fingers. You can’t hand someone something great with one finger right? Just kidding, no seriously we just wanted to give a variety of feelings and a range of emotions that we personally felt and we believe the rest of the world felt in 2020. we had a story to tell with the EP. a true one at that and we really gave our all through some dark times and some points of healing as adults to grow and move on through the art, we want to make art that connects and shapes the world.
Is there a running theme throughout your lyrical content within 'Winterlude?' What did you want your listeners to take away from the project?
There absolutely is a theme, The Winterlude starts with a happy and energetic record called Fire. This track boast and exudes the male ego as he meets and courts what he believes is the woman of his dreams and Slow Down, record #2 on the EP is more of the same, a happy and intimate record between the two personas’ in the EP. You can very much feel an energy shift during track #3, 2Hr Drive, where frustrations begin to be voiced. It is also more of neutral energy between the two characters. The plot thickens for Who to Blame, which a is very dark and lyrically aggressive track. Track #5 No Love marks the ending of the relationship and the EP in a spoken word, poetry heavy, 90s rap kind of feel song. To bring it full circle it’s a story of what most people experience at least once, in life, a relationship with a significant other that you think is the one and then toxic traits are revealed through the time spent and you realize that the relationship isn’t healthy and cannot continue. So you got to work through the hurt and move on. That’s what we tried to display.
Seeing as your duo is relatively new to the music industry, why did you choose the project 'Winterlude' to introduce us to your music? How does the project help us get to know you better?
We went with Winterlude as our introduction to the music scene because it was pretty true to live for both DFizz45 and Fantasy having both lost women they had a relationship with and also 2020 brought a whole range of emotions from happy to sad, just like how the EP moves. The year really kind of inspired the whole thing on top of the real-life issues both artists were going through. 2020 started as this is my year and big plans and turned into a lonely, loveless feeling year. The music is how we lived, the music is how we felt.
Within the last track of the EP 'Winterlude,' who was the female vocal feature? Why did you want her to feature on the project?
Fantasy: The female artist is yess_maa! Now you ask why we wanted her on the project?! You must have not seen her, but I know you heard her on the track she’s fire!
DFizz45’s: anyways to piggyback off Fantasy, her name is Essmaa Litim. She’s a creative, a poet and soon to be an author. She’s the whole package with a pen and she’s been one of my best friends since 9th grade I love her to death and I felt she was the perfect voice to speak on behalf of the female character as we brought her to life on the last song No Love. We heard from the male perspective the whole EP but we felt it was only right to allow the woman persona to not only speak for herself but defend herself as well before the EP concluded, also we felt she could just represent women in general who could relate with the song and the kind of the energy it brings. The idea of even though we’re breaking up I will be ok in the end, a matter of fact, I will be better for it. Fact.
Do you have a favorite track on the EP 'Winterlude?' Why do you think your duo gravitates to that specific piece?
Fantasy: I actually have no favorite song as I kinda fell in love with each song in its own way and they all have their own vibe to them so it really just depends on how I feel to dictate which is a “favorite” I guess I love them all honestly.
DFizz45’s: Now my favorite is definitely Who to Blame, it was true to life for me for the most part and I really wrote it while I was in a dark place and I feel the listener can feel and hear that through the music as well, but Slow Down is 1000% an honorable mention because even though I’m heavily a rapper in our music, my personal music listening tastes are definitely more on the R&B side when I go through my day to day, odd right? But to bring it back to your original question, as a duo I guess we would have to pick No love as our favorite song because it was the most difficult song to create on the whole EP but it was also the most fun song to create having all three of us in the studio bouncing ideas off of each other and creating something that’s not only a rap song but kind of like a poem in the same light but really had a powerful message of like, male ego and overcoming it, the trials and tribulations of a relationship and identifying a bad relationship and ending it. We even have a music video releasing on Valentine’s Day for the record. In short, the creation process of No Love makes it our favorite collectively.
WeaponMusic.com