Manzionz, here in their Twitter profile picture, is an American hip-hop and R&B group. (Courtesy/Twitter)
We’ve seen plenty of solo artists band together and create brand new collaboration groups: two of the most popular examples are Jack Ü (which is composed of DJs Diplo and Skrillex) and Major Lazer (which features Diplo again with Jillionaire and Walshy Fire). Taking two unique solo artists and their styles to form a brand new sound can be incredibly successful—just ask American hip-hop and R&B group Mansionz. With the release of their debut album, “Mansionz,” they have been blowing up in the music scene.
Mansionz (stylized as mansionz) is composed of singer-songwriter Mike Posner, known for this 2016 hit “I Took A Pill In Ibiza,” and writer-producer Matthew Musto, better known as Blackbear. Though the pairing might sound odd at first, listening to what they’ve created will surely change your mind.
Together, the two released their debut single “STFU” in December 2016, which features rapper Spark Master Tape. The song was met with ample success and pulled attention to the duo. It currently sports over 10 million streams on Spotify. The lyrics of the song describe someone asking their lover for some alone time in a pretty brash manner: “shut the f— up right now and let me do my thing.” On the other hand, the vibe of the song pulls you in with soft verses over a single guitar; it’s hard not to like it. The voices of Posner and Blackbear strangely flow together.
In February 2017, Mansionz released a second single, this one titled “Rich White Girls.” While this single didn’t have as much as an impact as “STFU,” it still managed to gain over a million streams on Spotify to this date. It does, however, have that great laid-back sound.
A few weeks later, another single—this one called “Dennis Rodman”—was dropped on March 17. Yes, the song is about—and even features—retired professional basketball star Dennis Rodman. Sporting about 1.4 million streams in just two weeks, this track actually began as a poem, which Posner later revised into the Mansionz hit we know today.
One of the most striking characteristics of this R&B group has to be the lime green hair that the duo sports. When Posner and Blackbear appeared on the red carpet at the Grammys this year, both of them had green hair that could stand out in any crowd. When asked about the artistic choice behind the green hair, Mansionz replied that it was a tribute to Dennis Rodman:
“We want to be like him,” Blackbear said. “He does whatever he wants to.”
I stumbled across Mansionz when my boyfriend was searching through Spotify and told me to check out a song called “STFU,” because it was really good. I listened to it and immediately liked it. It was actually amusing when I found out Mike Posner was one half of the duo, especially because it was so different from what I knew from him. He, for some reason, also had green hair.
Putting all that aside, Mansionz had a great impact on me, definitely because of their relaxed vibe and poetic lyrics. Their new album, “Mansionz,” is less of an album and more of an art piece, combining poetry and R&B and modern sound. If you listen to it, you’ll also hear voices from Snoozegod, Cyhi the Prynce and even G-Eazy. This group might not be your cup of tea, but they definitely have a strong flavor. And when you start seeing Mansionz’s name everyhere, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Ryan Amato is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at ryan.amato@uconn.edu.
