Track of the Day: Bobby Basil 'Make Up'

Formerly a member of the alternative hip-hop duo Dah Jevu, Isaac McGuinness, aka Bobby Basil, shows off a more vulnerable side of himself in 'Make Up', as well as challenging ideas of toxic masculinity in hip-hop.

This song, which is a taster of what Bobby's debut album, Isaac Nelson, will be about, shows how much the rapper's image has changed. Speaking about the story behind 'Make Up', the Dublin-based artist told us: “I had a few breakthrough moments in my life recently where I talked to certain family members, openly. I had a conversation with my mum where I was basically confessing things to her and crying for about two hours after. The day after that happened, I put up a very honest post completely contradicting my whole image. I felt like this aggressive guy that I’d made an image out of – I didn’t have to be that. And I felt cleansed.

“So then I wrote this song, basically me telling my girl that I loved how she looked even without her make-up. I had this idea for a music video to go with it. It’s a one-shot video of me doing a full face of make-up on myself with my girl in the background. I got a set designer in to basically make a fake make-up station, so it looks like I’m doing it to the mirror, but I’m actually doing to the camera.”

The video itself works remarkably well and reinforces Isaac's place as a noted auteur, as well as an innovative musician.

Bobby Basil's debut album, Isaac Nelson, will be released this Friday, January 11. For more details go to https://www.facebook.com/Bobby-Basil-879755138809787/

Despite the earnest nature of the rapper's reinvention, the track's content was met with less-than-coherent homophobic reactions from a handful of people in the Irish music community. But the less said about that the better. Enjoy 'Make Up' below: