If you were doubting that The Family is indeed the end of the road for BROCKHAMPTON, there’s a rather shocking detail about the hip-hop collective’s final album: It’s just Kevin Abstract. There are no slick verses from Dom McLennon, no ecstatic hooks from Merlyn Wood, no introspective choruses from Joba. 13 tracks in — the album’s title track — Ciarán McDonald (A.K.A. Bearface) sings a brief verse, marking the first and only time we hear from anyone other than Abstract.
That being said, there’s a bit more to the “final album” story that’s been revealed: along with the release of The Family, the band has also announced the surprise release of TM (out at midnight PST), an album of songs that do feature the rest of BROCKHAMPTON. Executive produced by member Matt Champion, TM is an album that wasn’t completed upon recording, but has now been finished to be paired alongside The Family.
But let’s dive into what BROCKHAMPTON has stressed is, “for sure,” the final album. After a rousing performance at this year’s Coachella, BROCKHAMPTON announced The Family (which arrived Thursday, November 17th) by playing a rather ominous video: Abstract gets all 12 members of the band together to share that he went to New York to make a new album, a project specifically about BROCKHAMPTON, and that this would be the final album. While many may have speculated a limited amount of involvement from the band’s other members, it still seemed odd to envision a BROCKHAMPTON album completely devoid of the full group theatrics and its members’ versatile artistry — especially for their final LP.
And yet, that’s what The Family is, and what it’s intended to be. The band bills The Family as “a story about BROCKHAMPTON,” and Abstract details the album as “the truth.” He explains this on the album’s first song, “Take It Back,” rapping “I had to save the truth for the last shit/ Anything I said before this was passive.” And throughout, we get the full picture of Abstract’s reasoning. The group has been holding him back, he’s been neglecting his own artistry and mental health to take care of the other members, and his relationship to them has changed to an irreconcilable place.
On the one hand, there’s a great deal of love and respect that Abstract imbues into The Family. Though Abstract is alone in the booth, classic soul samples swirl around him, pitched up and warped. “Take It Back” is a particularly joyous way to begin the album, and it feels like Abstract is looking back on the journey of the band with an assured eye. It sets the album up to be a celebration of death, rather than a moody and meditative mourn. He mentions — as he does in the announcement video — that he still has love for the members of BROCKHAMPTON. He notes in “Gold Teeth” that while the group is hardly on speaking terms, the work they made together is “Godly.”
On the other hand, there’s a bitterness that seeps deep into the album, and it sounds like years of group tensions resurfacing across remarkably short hip-hop, R&B, and pop songs. Abstract often sounds betrayed and agitated, oscillating between looking back fondly on the past and railing against the pressures and limitations he’s experienced from the band, the fans, and their label.
He pinpoints the exact moments where things went wrong: his decision to abandon the band at an awards show in search of a solo career on “All That,” their success leading to competition between members and resentment on “The Family,” a fight he had with producer and vocalist Jabari Manwa that changed their relationship on the album’s final song, “Brockhampton.” These are illuminating entries from Abstract, a “Behind the Music” segment spread out across an entire album. He resists writing about anything but himself, the band, and himself in the band.
It appears that Abstract is at least attempting to “do the work” when it comes to taking care of himself and his family, and he certainly takes some responsibility for the band’s demise. “I turned my friendship into a business into an empire,” he reflects on “The Ending.” The end of “Good Time” features an anecdote from Abstract where he shares that their friendship became compromised because he “turned everything into art.” He calls out his own toxicity, and eventually confesses “I’m always into toxic relationships” on “Any Way You Want Me” — all before the drums cut out and he plainly speaks: “Brockhampton.”
Abstract has often been deeply personal in his work with and without BROCKHAMPTON; he highlights his own insecurities in detail, he investigates his identity as a queer black artist with a candid, kaleidoscopic vision, his bars cycle between fierce and vulnerable, terrified and at peace. The Family is a notable entry in his catalog, especially by those metrics — it’s the work of an artist at a very specific time in his career, tethered to his past but determined to break free into the future.
This begs the obvious question: Why is The Family a BROCKHAMPTON album and not a solo effort from Abstract? Other than Bearface behind the boards, the album lacks all the charisma and tag-team mentality that has characterized each of their six studio albums. It’s a fascinating choice for Abstract to isolate himself, and even more fascinating to create a work of art completely dedicated to explaining the death of the band. It seems as though Abstract feels he’s doing the band justice by sharing “the truth” of what happened, by pulling down the curtain and exposing the band for who they are: souls that were miraculously brought together, and subsequently torn apart by success, egos, and shame.
But the biggest lapse on The Family, unfortunately, is that it’s one-sided. We don’t get to hear from the other members about how they feel it all went wrong. We’re not given a collage, just one vivid picture from Abstract’s perspective. He admits his faults and responsibility, but it feels almost irresponsible to end the band’s memorable journey by silencing the rest of its members.
Both Abstract and the rest of the band have made sure to stress that The Family is absolutely the final BROCKHAMPTON album — but they say it so frequently, and combined with their restless output, it’s easy to see this as a ploy or a tactic, that they will almost certainly reconnect for another album in the future. While that may still be true, the illuminating nature of The Family suggests that the band has been on the brink of demise for quite some time, and there is simply no way for them to continue.
Or at least that’s what Abstract thinks. Maybe there is a future for the band without its triumphant leader, who is stepping into larger shoes with each solo release. Maybe they’ll all go solo and continue their own personal artistic growth, as we’ve now seen with Merlyn Wood. Perhaps their recently-completed record TM offers more answers, and serves as the centerpiece they all envisioned to close out with. Or maybe, it’s pointless to wonder. All good things must come to an end — it’s just unfortunate that the band has decided to go out with not a bang, but a half-painted portrait.
Essential Tracks: “The Family,” “Good Time,” “The Ending”
The Family Album Artwork:
