The artist collective going by the name Crewshade recently released the music video for “Raise You Up,” featuring Penn Badgley of the band MOTHXR and Gossip Girl, and You.
Crewshade is the brainchild of Jimmy Giannopoulos and Jenny Lee. It began as a side-project but quickly grew into an active and flourishing musical collective. Giannopoulos put the collective on hold for a while, as he was working with Lolawolf on a new record, which put him beside Che Pope, Jack Antonoff, The Honorable C-Note, and Bekon. As soon as Lolawolf finished up, Giannopoulos reopened Crewshade, enlisting the crème de la crème, including Nigel Harris, Genevieve Schatz, James Polis, and Emiliano Ortiz.
The collective’s mission involves blending gay, straight, white, black, thrash, hip-hop, psych, garage, country, pop, and every other category or genre. After establishing an apartment studio, Giannopoulos opened the door to all comers, producing astounding results.
“Raise You Up” opens on a tight hip-hop-flavored melody trembling with pop and soul colors. The rhythm, compact and potent, rides snapping percussion along with syncopated beats, as washes of synths radiate both mid-range and upper-range hues, infusing the tune with silky textures.
Badgley’s melodic voice starts the tune off, followed by luminous harmonies, and then the entry of velvety rapping tones, rife with a skintight, smooth flow. A shimmering, almost psychedelic breakdown, gives the harmonics shifting flavors. Autotune imbues the vocals with delicious mirroring resonance, adding the allure.
Slick wordplay gives the lyrics quixotic urgency.
“I know where you’ve been / I know where you’ve been / Cause I’ve been there before with you / On another trip / Just burn the other bridge / It’s the same from before / Cause you never know / Cause you never know / Never know / Cause I wanna raise you up / But I can never feel enough.”
“Raise You Up” is dope, full of cashmere colors and glossy rapping flows, along with cool, stylish visuals populating the music video.
Follow Crewshade Instagram | SoundCloud
Follow Penn Badgley Facebook | Instagram