Brockhampton’s Kevin Abstract has long been the engine driving the enormous group, acting as both rudder and sail in deciding their musical direction. So, it’s only right for fans to get excited about his upcoming solo project, Arizona Baby, which he’s been teasing via social media for some time. Today, he released the first song from the album, along with its surrealist music video, called “The 1-9-9-9 Is Coming,” although Stereogum reports that it could also be called “Big Wheels,” per Shazam.
In the video for “The 1-9-9-9 Is Coming,” Kevin’s disembodied head raps in front of a picturesque landscape with blue skies and fluffy clouds in the background before being dropped into what looks like a cartoon representation of hell just as the frenetic beat turns its most eerie and paranoid-sounding. The video concludes with a jazz sax solo and the rapper/producer jumping off a storefront’s window alcove in Hollywood (it’s the world-famous Amoeba record store, by the way) and running into the street with a smash cut to black and a final title card reading “Arizona Baby.”
Cryptic hints are kind of what Kevin Abstract and Brockhampton do, so of course, fans got in on the theorizing early on the video’s Youtube post. “Fans be like Arizona was founded in 1912,” wrote one commenter. “1999-1912=87. That’s 87 days until the album comes out. July 4th album is dropping.”
While Abstract himself has yet to confirm any official release date for Arizona Baby, it’s likely only the first of many projects from Brockhampton this year, per their deal with RCA Records that mandates a whole bunch of releases and tours. That’s good news for B-Ham fans and for Kevin Abstract, who seems to be having the time of his life leaving breadcrumbs for them to find and watching them snapping them up.
