Benjamin Reichwald, known professionally as Bladee, is a Swedish rapper, singer, songwriter, record-producer, fashion designer and member of the artistic collective Drain Gang. He released his debut albumEversince in 2016, and his second albumRed Light in 2018—both through Stockholm record labelYEAR0001. In addition to his music, Reichwald creates visual art, which frequently appears as cover art for his releases. Reichwald also serves as the creative director for Yung Lean's clothing line Sadboys Gear.
Early life
Benjamin Reichwald was born 9 April 1994 in Stockholm, Sweden and was raised mainly in the Skanstull area. It was here where, in 2004, he met fellow Gravity Boys member Zak Arogundade, also known as Ecco2k. The two were classmates and formed a band titled "Krossad" when Reichwald was 13, which led to Reichwald's interest in music. After leaving school, Reichwald began to get into making music whilst working at a daycare centre.
Career
Reichwald released a few tracks in 2011 under the name Ken Burns, but properly began releasing music in 2012. He eventually became friends with legendary Swedish rapper Yung Lean, who was a friend of Reichwald's brother. Reichwald eventually sent a message to Sad Boys member Yung Sherman on SoundCloud, asking to collaborate, which resulted in a working relationship between his own Gravity Boys collective and Lean's Sad Boys Entertainment. Reichwald and Lean then made "Heal You // Bladerunner" from Lean's Unknown Death 2002 mixtape, which gave him attention from Lean's fanbase. Reichwald released his debut-mixtape, GLUEE in 2014 on the YEAR0001 label which was described as the "summertime anthem for a suburban generation stuck scrolling through Twitter". The mixtape was successful on the audio distribution platform SoundCloud, racking up over 2 million plays. This mixtape, coupled with several singles going viral and features on Yung Leans debut mixtape Unknown Death 2002 was able to rocket Bladee into underground hip hop fame. Reichwald released his debut album, Eversince on May 25, 2016. The album received mixed reviews from mainstream outlets, but was well-received by underground and experimental critics. In 2017, Reichwald teamed up with production group Working on Dying to release his second mixtape, named after the group. 2018 saw the release of Reichwald's second album, Red Light. In July 2018, Reichwald and fellow Drain Gang memberEcco2K walked Alyx Studio's S/S 2019 menswear show in Paris, on invitation from Matthew Williams. Reichwald's third mixtape, Icedancer, was released December 28, 2018. This album was executively produced by Australian collective Ripsquad featuring production from Whitearmor and PJ Beats. In April 2020, Reichwald released EXETER, a nine-song album he recorded whilst in Gotland with Gud. It is the first Bladee project produced by Gud on the YEAR0001 label. In July 2020, Reichwald released his fourth album and second of 2020, 333 via YEAR0001. The album was produced primarily by Whitearmor, with additional production coming from close collaborators Gud, Mechatok, and Lusi, as well as Joakim Benon of the Swedish band JJ. Notable is the absence of any vocal features, especially of longtime collaborator and fellow Drain Gang member Ecco2K, who contributed to the previous 3 Bladee albums.
Musical style
Reichwald's musical style is described his style as "leaning towards emotional rap with obscure lo-fi production" though saying, as of 2018, he had "evolved into some sort of auto-tuned dark angel". In a 2019 interview, Reichwald acknowledged that he frequently experiments with his music, and does not like to confine what he does to a single genre. In the same interview, he stated that his music is therapeutic for him, and that he often uses it to vent. In an interview with Reichwald, Jack Angell, a music writer for The Fader, described Reichwald's sound as "frostbitten futurism" and remarked that Reichwald's music evokes "a wide spectrum of emotion". He has received widespread attention for his collaborations and live performances with Yung Lean.
