The Pretty Demon Rockstar himself Hi-C aka B00GIE_0N_DAh_B3AT, CTP, CA$HED COHBRUHZ, and Hi-C Touchdown is an underground cloud rap, experimental and dark trap artist from Nashville Tennessee. To say he is one of the most influential artists in the scene would be an understatement as he's been at the forefront of most musical innovations in the underground since 2013. Not only rap, but much of the hyperpop, breakcore, and digicore scenes have their roots in the stylistic choices Hi-C and many others were pushing in 2013.

Hi-C has a rich history, much of which unfortunately is deleted with or without archives. Because of this, we'll only be looking at his official spotify offerings, primarily sticking to albums. I've already mentioned that he's been pushing the boundary forward, but I haven't exactly mentioned how. We'll start this discussion with his 2013 album "Munnie Fetish Renegade Demon."

Despite the very dark and abrasiveness production, the vocals are airy and slow. Very much akin newly founded styles at the time of cloud rap. While not quite as ambient, Hi-C almost never has a single layer of vocals but instead opting for constant background melodies like on If U Must Kno or multiple layers of panning vocals like on Run Thru Her Walls Like a Ghost.

This album is silly. You can really feel the amount of fun Hi-C was having coming up with these near eerie productions and cloudy vocals. You can feel the amateurish mixing and the incorrect compression. For it's time this album was incredible, it truly is a time capsule. However it is hard to recommend this as someone's first Hi-C album since he has put out truly incredible work since. With that in mind, going back to this project after developing an appreciation for Hi-C and the people he has inspired it is still a wonderful listen.

Sumo - 8/10

Cast a Spell Like Quan Chi - 9/10

Cobraz So Venemous - 6/10

Demon Breeding - 6/10

If U Must Kno - 9/10

Peppy Le Pew - 4/10

Mantra Good I Casted So Many Spells U Idiot - 9/10

Run Thru Her Walls Like a Ghost - 7/10

No More Heroes, Vol. One (2015)

Continuing to evolve his sound in 2015, Hi-C knocks it out of the park with his sophomore album No More Heroes, Vol. One. This album isn't a complete solo project, as for the first half of this 7 hit masterpiece he is joined by various producers who all come to together to push this style of music to the forefront. This album packs a lot of surprises but it mostly mixes southern trap influences and themes with frilly synthpop leads over beautiful percussion with a blend of otaku silliness. This is everything my emo kid heart ever wanted to hear as a kid and in this album are songs that are in my main playlists to this day. Shortly put this album is incredible, I would recommend anyone looking to really dive into Hi-C to start here.

We need to talk about the guest producers on this project first, as they almost alone define Hi-C's motifs and style moving forward.

This is dazegxd, not the only producer on the first 4 tracks, but most definitely the most influential and the one who stood out to me - And many others considering the large list of artists daze has produced for as well as many successful projects. Daze is truly influential to not only Hi-C but the underground scene as a whole. On No More Heroes, Vol One. daze's production is addictive. Every track is a multilayered exhibit with incredible skill displayed on each one. The leads, the mains, the drums, the 808s the everything. daze was not the sole producer on these tracks, but no doubt is the one who extends the furthest. Other producers include: lil yen, boka, and evilgiane.

On the last 3 tracks we are treated to Hi-C's production, which some how continued to evolve from the already insane state it was at in Munnie Fetish Renegade Demon. True to his style, these beats are much darker in tone, feasting off the southern trap influence. Sharp sprinkling hats and deep 808s litter the production on London Lauren and All This Pain however, we are treated to something truly special on Mine4evrr!.

Just when you may have felt Hi-C was lacking diversity as both a producer and vocalist, he went and created his magnum opus. Mine4evrr! is perfection, but it is  quite the departure from his usual style as this song surprisingly blends his airy, cloud rappy, and now autotuned vocals with an emo rock love ballad. It is insane. The lyrics are simple, but pungent and the entire vibe of this song hits my heart deep. The mixing on the production is done perfectly, and gently; Contrasting the rougher and more abrasiveness vocal mixing. To me this completely parallels the lyrics. Throughout the song it is as if there are two sides to a hurt Hi-C: One that feels as if he's being controlled one that is angry and scary to his SO. The other seems hurt, upset that things are ending, upset that he's the one who messed up, the one who is pleading for his SO to stay. For anyone who's been in a rocky relationship, or for anyone who has caused issues like these... The lyrics cut painfully deep.

The rest of the album is very upbeat for the most part and this is reflected with Hi-C's new motif which is drenching his vocals with auto tune. I know there's many people who reflexively hate auto tune and retuning, but I feel like this hate is misguided or brought on by people who have never experimented with it. Auto tune is never used to cover up bad singing, but instead with this much retune speed it is used as a stylistic and aesthetic choice. Think T-Pain. You cannot sing poorly and fix it with auto tune, it will still sound like shit. Auto tune to this degree is not used to try and convince you that someone can or cannot sing as mentioned previously it's purely for the sound. And it sounds incredible in my opinion.

With that mini rant out of the way, these tracks feature your typical Hi-C fare. Multi layered vocals, addictive melodies, incredible adlibs, and hilarious samples sprinkled in. A true feast for ADHD ears. The mix on the vocals have been drastically improved since 2013, with my only real complaint being the extremely punching compressor. I actually think that this choice made the vocals hit way harder on All This Pain, but hurt the track Hi-C Bby!!

These tracks feature some incredibly silly lyrics.

 "Fuck on a blue haired bitch, Hatsune Miku" - 2 Seater

 "I just might pull up on some furries, and we just might have an orgy" - Hi-Bby!!

 "All that dick riding wont get you rich" - No More Heroes

 "Smoke stuffed crust like a pizza hut" - All This Pain

 "She giving me brain, this bitch is a genius" - London Lauren

Just to name a few.

This album also features 2 guest vocalists, them being: DiamondsOnMyDick(domd), and lil yen. Lil yen was did an incredible job on his track Psycho! Extremely catchy flow, playful lyrics, and pretty vocals all around. Really added to this track and album as a whole. Domd is a tricky one to talk about however. He's had a bit of controversy which I wont get into. He objectively is a good artist, it is just unfortunate to have to reflect on his actions so again I just wont. He is on the song London Lauren at the end.

I cannot stress how much I love this album through and through. Everything on it appeals my ears in ways I didn't even know I wanted. This as of now is my favorite work by Hi-C and probably his most important work.

No More Heroes - 9/10

2 Seater - 10/10

Psycho! - 10/10

Hi-C Bby!! - 10/10

All This Pain - 10/10

London Lauren - 9/10

Mine4evrr! - 10/10

V@st0@L0rd333 (2022)

Finally to wrap up this spotlight we'll be highlighting Hi-C's most recent work. There are many fantastic EPs and albums between this one and No More Heroes Vol, One, but I would be here all day if I covered them.

Just some honorable mentions if you're looking for more:

 - Pretty Demon Rokkstarzzz (EP) 9/10

 - Tr3nd1ng T0p1c (Single) 10/10

 - No More Heroes Vol, Two (Album) 9/10
 - LSD on My Tongue 8/10

Vasto Lorde is a return to form in a sense from Hi-C. To me it sounds a LOT like the aesthetic and vibe from Munnie Fetish Renegade Demon but with a fresh updated tone and production. Speaking of which most of this album was produced by Hi-C himself, with guest production on MaliceDoll by Sophitia and on Evisu Bape by Flynnseasons. They both produced my favorite songs on this album. This isn't to say Hi-C's production is bad or even suggest I didnt like it. Instead it is to say that they absolutely killed it and did a fantastic job. In any case though, This album features heavier, trappier, and more bombastic rage beats than some of his more synth heavy projects and this is all brought together by the return of airy, yet still auto tuned vocals. The darker tone indicated by the songs and the album art itself can really be felt and allow you to almost zone out and let yourself be taken away by the melodies

You can really feel this heavy vibe on the intro to Kino Der Toten, as we see a common motif Hi-C loves to use being the slow windup and tempo increase before the song starts. The album is filled with dark vibes and the rage influenced beats make me really want to burn shit.

The rage cloud blend is at full display on the track ViewtifulJoe. These types of beats have been popularized by contemporary mainstream artists like Playboi Carti but has it's roots deep into the underground. Thus, Hi-C sounds very much in his element with this more aggressive rap focused track. He absolutely destroys it delivering incredible and violent flows with extremely catchy lyrics.

The standout track here for me is MaliceDoll. This might possibly be my favorite individual song from Hi-C. I think I have listened to it the most out of anything else in his discography, and for good reason. The production from sophitia, the mix on the vocals, the adlibs, the soundbytes, the master, the everything. Perfect for me. It's something I can really tune into and zone out of at the same time. The flow is perfect, the wordplay is fun and creative and on almost every single listen I notice something new. One thing I've neglected to mention very much in this highlight are the insane amount of early 2000s to 2010s internet references in almost every single track. This culminates for me to the obvious reverence in the title "Malice@Doll." Malice@Doll is an incredibly powerful piece of animation from 2001. It's pornographic in nature, but it isn't senseless and has a very powerful point. Up until this album released I never heard anyone talk about this film, but it was incredible to see it in the tracklist. I really had thought it had been lost to the ether of time, but knowing one of my favorite artists appreciates it really elevates this song and project for me.

I love this album, and really look forward to his next project.

MassEffect - 9/10

Uh-Huh - 8/10

MaliceDoll - 10/10

Omg! - 9/10

ViewtifulJoe - 8/10

Kino Der Toten - 9/10
Corpse Party - 9/10

Evisu Bape - 10/10

It is still incredibly impressive how much this artist manages to accomplish for himself while also staying true to what has made him unique through the years. 9 years later and his songs are still littered with insanely catchy melodies and a myspace era digital graffiti approach to sound design you really only get from underground artists. While it's more common now, it is undeniable that Hi-C is one of few grandfathers of the underground and I hope I could make more people aware of his existence.

I also I hope to do more underground spotlights in the future, perhaps once a week even. I hope you've enjoyed

~

Guilt

EDIT 3/8 : Since uploading vasto lorde has been removed from spotify. As to why I have

no idea! Unfortunate news.

EDIT 3/11: Hi-C said he made "an ooopsie" and now it is back up lmao