HeavensoulsandStickerbush Are Not Rappers

HeavensoulsandStickerbush operate from a premise of denial. They are not rappers. They only just met. Their project, sidepeices, began as a joke. Yet their completed trilogy of releases, culminating in this year’s ‘lightskin n****s with darkskin problems 3’, has solidified them as a distinct and compelling voice within online hip hop’s experimental fringe.

Their collaboration exists almost entirely in the digital realm, a friendship forged through messaging platforms and forums. This distance defines their process. They trade ideas, samples, and verses remotely, building tracks that feel both meticulously crafted and spontaneously off-the-cuff. Their sound is a collage of recognizable touchstones warped into new contexts. It might twist the twinkling keys of an Isley Brothers sample against juvenile Justin Bieber vocals, or frame a discussion about cuckolding from DJ Akademiks as a surreal intro.

The work is rooted in a shared, ironic sense of humor about contemporary rap and R&B tropes. “We were listening to a bunch of, like, ‘Crawl on the floor, baby give it to me’-ass R&B songs. And realized we had to make our own,” heavensouls has explained. This is not parody, but a form of reclamation through absurdist reassembly. They use the digital debris of pop culture as raw material.

The result is music that feels knowingly internet-native. It acknowledges the fragmented way we now consume media and identity, stitching those fragments into coherent, if strangely warped, songs. Their trilogy charts a path from casual online joke to a defined artistic practice. By insisting on what they are not, they have clearly shown what they are: sharp editors of the modern sonic landscape, building a compelling world from the pieces left lying around.