Hayden Sahli
IDK.
While Kanye West is off galavanting around the country with his Sunday Service, claiming to be some MAGA-hat-wearing conduit of divine power or whatever, Maryland rapper IDK is conducting a different type of sermon. For his major label debut, Is He Real?, the formerly incarcerated tutor and barber muses on the existence of God amid daily tragedy and injustice, an oversexualized society, and the death of his mother, who died of AIDS in 2016, with contributions from Tyler The Creator, Pusha-T, JID, and DMX. Conceptual in its composition and intimate and challenging through its songwriting, Much of the record’s spiritual struggle can be reduced to the opening monologue delivered by a child when asked what they think happens when we die: “You wake up from your dream because God isn’t fucking real.” Kemba is also on the bill.
Doors open at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at El Club; 4114 W. Vernor Hwy., Detroit; 313-279-7382; elclubdetroit.com. Tickets are $15-$18.
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