Shirt Reflects on the State of Art in New Single "Death To Wall Art"
Produced by Jack Splash.
Artist and musician Shirt is back with his newest single “Death To Wall Art.”
Produced by Jack Splash, known for his work with Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole and Alicia Keys, the cut arrives just shortly after Shirt’s project with the New York Public Library and artist residency in a castle in Italy. “It’s nice to get a HYPEBEAST premiere but I have real issues with hype culture in general we can talk about that when you guys are ready,” he said. “‘Death To Wall Art’ relates to what Duchamp has called ‘retinal art’ – which is art that is purely visual. I have a rule for myself over the last few years of studying art that goes: No aesthetic purely for aesthetic sake — the people deserve better.” I am interested in ideas, not merely in visual products, shit that just sounds or looks good. I want an art at the service of the mind. I work toward an art of direct action, prompts, gestures, refusal, disappearance, chance, and magical thinking. I want to put my mind on dazzling display.”
Shirt continued, “‘Death To Wall Art’ is me rapping through selfhood and erasure, as well as these entrenched legacies of colonialism, displacement, and violence that surrounds the music industry and art world. When I say ‘I want to hear about the kid better than Mozart’ I f*cking mean it — speaking to overlooked people, histories and artistic traditions while at the same time looking forward to our creative potential of the future. I’m sick of everyone’s go to art references being the old white guys, Picasso and the like. We’re taking this shit off the wall — I want to go off the wall with the shit. Early on, that beat was one of the hardest Splash sent to the point that I knew immediately it would be a record defining track.”
Stream Shirt’s “Death To Wall Art” above.
Elsewhere in music, a new bill in California now limits the use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials.
