UK producer Big O, during one of the most creatively draining periods in modern human history, managed to stay busy. He dropped a few highly recommended collaborative LPs: Ocean Grown with Loki Loko and a deluxe version of A New Day with Dankery Harv. That on top of a handful of and a pretty knocking instrumental EP, Parking Violations. However, the best still may be yet to come, as a brand new single titled “The Preordained” with South Side Jamaica Queens MC L.O.U. signals a sophomore effort heads may want to keep an eye out for; let me explain.
L.O.U. and Big O first connecting about three years ago on this gem of a project titled The South Side Of Things. Anyone who knows me knows my affinity for Brooklyn luminary Skyzoo, who appears on the track “Who Would’ve Thought,” off the said project. That was a gateway into L.O.U., and a thorough top to bottom at the time showed gobs of promise, with the Queens wordsmith penning an incredibly thoughtful body of work — traversing everything from his upbringing to his rocky relationship with his parents. It was relatable, and I saw him catch a stride.
The project was a sleeper — a status only bolstered by what seemed like radio silence since 2018. But this new track, “The Preordained,” is impressive. I made it the soundtrack of a night run around my city and found myself lost in its compelling vibe.
It follows a similar structural path of some of the more intriguing tracks off his past work, going off with no hook over Big O’s moody production that gives off these cinematic feels. It’s decidedly darker in tone, at points more aggressive, as he describes premonitions of death and skating through the grimy side of things.
Still, he’s maintaining a confident demeanor; there is one bar where he describes his 2020 flow as being like water — which is a great way to describe it. He and Big O feel like Peanut Butter and Jelly, and this direction harkens to a sound that is shying away from the more mainstream aesthetic currently coming out of New York. It finds itself more so riding the underground wave presently making its way through the current landscape.
With an inevitable sophomore from the two on the horizon, his absence begs many questions, and this new single seems to signify that he was living life in the downtime; his style has become even more fluid, and this particular soundscape fits him like a glove.
Big O makes excellent music, and not only does this song seem to signify an LP full of quotables and back button mashers on L.O.U.’s part, but also a sign that O isn’t here to play around.
Catch up; stream Big O and L.O.U.’s “The Preordained” below.
