Photo: Drew Yorke (The Come Up Show), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Bladee

Bladee came up in Stockholm as part of the Drain Gang crew alongside Ecco2k and Thaiboy Digital, and built a cult following on hazy, Auto-Tuned rap that sounded like nothing else coming out of Sweden at the time. Early work with producer Whitearmor gave him a weightless, melancholy sound, and albums like Red Light and EXETER pushed further into icy, dreamlike territory. His influence on a generation of internet-raised rappers and the whole "drain" aesthetic is hard to overstate.

Start here

Red Light (2018). Red Light is where the Drain Gang sound fully crystallises, with Whitearmor's glowing, synth-heavy production under Bladee's most focused writing. It includes "1D" and "Golden Boy," both good entry points for a new listener.

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Biography

Benjamin Thage Dag Reichwald (born 9 April 1994), known professionally as Bladee (pronounced "blade"), is a Swedish rapper and singer. In 2013, he formed the Drain Gang music collective alongside childhood friends Ecco2k, Thaiboy Digital, and Whitearmor. Bladee began releasing music that same year, and gained attention after collaborating with Yung Lean.

Bladee released his debut mixtape, Gluee, in 2014, and his debut album, Eversince, in 2016. In 2017 he became art director of Yung Lean's Sadboys Gear clothing line, and released Working on Dying, a collaborative mixtape with the production group of the same name. Bladee released Red Light and Icedancer in 2018.

During 2020, Bladee released three projects: Exeter, 333, and Good Luck, a collaborative album with producer Mechatok. He released his fifth studio album, The Fool, in 2021, and it met with critical praise. Later that year, he exhibited his first solo collection of paintings, Real Sprin9, and released a collection in collaboration with American-Swedish clothing brand GANT. In 2022, he released Crest, a collaborative album with Ecco2k, as well as Spiderr, his sixth solo album.

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