From the dark tundra of Alaska to the heaving jungles of Papua, OldBoy Rhymes has experienced a lot — from terrorist attacks to home invasions. He’s befriended billionaires, kids in “third world” slums, and people at all levels in between. OldBoy Rhymes has lived a crazy, multi-polar life, and his lyricism is drenched in the love and angst he soaked up along the way. OldBoy Rhymes’ The Sane Asylum is the war journal of a reluctant combatant fighting for loved ones who can’t. The international American emcee’s full-length debut is a series of true, dramatic dispatches from frontlines all over the planet. From Jakarta to Silicon Valley, the saga has left him with scarred hands, a scarred brain, and an unbroken spirit. “I’ve spent the majority of my life outside the US,” explains OldBoy. “Since I was a kid, rhyming has been an outlet that I’ve leaned on to process my perspective on life and society.” The Sane Asylum broadcasts a point of view that is delicately balanced and brutally informed. It bumps with that trademark Strange Famous Records blend of personal resonance over strong, musical tracks. This no-skips album provides your recommended daily allowance of big beats, soul-shaking samples, and nimble rhymes from an overstimulated mind. CHECK OUT THE LYRIC VIDEO FOR “LIFTOFF” featuring MYKA 9, JEL, + BUDDY PEACE! OldBoy’s stage name functions on different levels. Most obviously, he doesn’t feel young. And he’s not. “I don’t believe a no-name nobody has ever dropped a debut album from out of nowhere, in their late 30’s, featuring a bunch of genre icons,” says the rhymer, typing in his top secret American headquarters. The Sane Asylum is produced by Rhode Island rap vet Mopes (the artist formerly known as Prolyphic). And the record arrives like a mortar shell from indie-rap stronghold Strange Famous. The label is home to a committed crew under the charge of hip-hop luminary Sage Francis. Features and collabs on the record include Sage, Akil (Jurassic 5), BlackLiq, Brother Ali, JEL (anticon), Mr. Lif (The Perceptionists), Myka 9, Runt (of Jivin Scientists), Tom Thum, Locksmith, Lee Reed, Buddy Peace, and the late, great Zumbi of Zion I. OldBoy’s journey includes a visit to a mental health ward and a life-and-death street scuffle. It almost ends in a plane crash. He takes notes the whole time. Palestine. The pandemic. Generational trauma. Terrorist attacks. An American legacy of murder from JFK to Trayvon Martin. Dysmorphia. Abandonment issues. The immunocompromised life. Body dysmorphia. OldBoy knows what is hard: Life is hard. “Despite the tone of the album, I am not anti-American,” clarifies OldBoy. “I grew up abroad as an unbelievably patriotic American boy. However, the older I became, and the more I learned, I felt like a kid who grows up to realize their father is a duplicitous deadbeat. My anger is because I love the US and expect more from it. US foreign policy is not ethereal when you have been attacked and beaten down by a crowd of 30+ men and women angry at the US invasion of Iraq — like I have.” His family’s sole breadwinner, OldBoy quit his job to bring his family to America for various medical and mental treatments. It’s just one of a series of ten draining family challenges that besieged him over the last six years. (Ask him, but be ready. He has receipts.) Moving through The Sane Asylum, OldBoy revisits formative events and irresistible forces. OldBoy, Sage, and Mr. Lif call out the empire in “American Pyramids.” Righteous rage gives way to personal vulnerability on tender tracks like “Sasquatch” and “Somehow.” After the aerobic verbal acrobatics of “Liftoff,” the door closes. And hope has kept him standing. “The life reviews that I do in ‘What’s Hard?’ and ‘Strange Kids’ are directly tied to conversations I had in therapy,” says OldBoy. “The world around me, and people closest to me, had literally gone crazy. And being sane was driving me out of my mind. Staying solid and carrying everyone on my shoulders resulted in The Sane Asylum.” credits released August 9, 2024 Vocals by OldBoy Rhymes, except where indicated otherwise Produced by MOPES, except “Liftoff” produced by JEL All cuts by BUDDY PEACE Cover artwork by Nick P.G. OldBoy Rhymes logo by Inkymole Album liner notes by DX Ferris
