OKP Premiere: Asante Phenix’ Haunting “Bunnies” Gets A Christian Tiger School Remix + ‘CHAMBER’ EP

Sometimes you have to go all the way to South Africa to discover the new newness from Brooklyn. Asante Phenix certainly fit into that category, for us at least, having gotten put onto this intriguing and surprisingly sophisticated BK-based singjay specifically via this remix for the song “Bunnies”, laced by our Cape Town crew (and sometime Bilal collaborators) Christian Tiger School. The haunting soundscape CTS lay out here–somehow both expansive and intimate at the same time–makes a beautiful backdrop for Phenix’s soft, sombre croon as he recounts hurts so deep it’s hard to tell if he’s speaking on love lost or something more supernatural: “…said her daddy was a pastor / so why you ridin’ with the devil?” before landing on the spooky descending refrain “and down the rabbit-hole we go.”

The total effect is something like a quiet storm ballad on LSD and makes an arresting intro to Asante as a new voice to be reckoned with in the field of modern r&b. But judging by his EP CHAMBER (which also drops today) it’s only one side to the singer, as other all-caps tracks like “GUNS” and “DMX” lean more towards rap wordplay, catchy synths and half-tempo club beats, less quiet storm on LSD and more steppers anthems on MDMA, so to speak. We look forward to learning more about this new face on the scene but for the moment, enjoy the rework of “Bunnies” below via OKP Premiere (Phoenixes, Tigers and Bunnies, oh my!) and then contrast with the full CHAMBER EP to decide which mode of Asante Phenix fits you better today–far as we can tell, not getting with Asante Phenix program does not appear to be a viable option.