Last week, Drake dominated the music zeitgeist with one of the most anticipated mainstream hip hop projects – that would materialize as a trifecta of individual albums – of the year. Just seven days later, all eyes turn to the hip hop underground for the first post-ICEMAN (Habibti and Maid of Honour) New Music Friday, when fakemink will drop his latest studio album, Terrified. Marking the UK rapper/producer’s first longform release since his stateside skyrocket – and since he’s changed his artistic moniker to fakemink – the album holds the power to not only put mink’s name on the map, but also propel the underground into the general cultural consciousness

With a high potential for impact running parallel to the mainstream rap circuit, fakemink’s imminent opus boasts as high stakes as ICEMAN. But where Drake went big, mink went home to his beloved Essex, conducting possibly the most nonchalant album rollout yet by way of lo-fi, Lynchian visuals and intimate hometown shows that he values far more than the Coachella stage. It’s only right Terrified take to the antithesis of the ICEMAN rollout, staying true to his ever-so-elusive public persona.

We sifted through all the Terrified information out there to extrapolate any information we can about the forthcoming fakemink record, which drops everywhere tonight.

The Tracklist – Revealed and then Removed

This morning, fakemink sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe to chat more about the project. Shortly after the interview went live, Apple Music’s pre-save link updated to include the entire album tracklist – with titles and song lengths. And then it disappeared. But not before Reddit users got their eyes on it and uploaded screenshots of the short-lived lineup. Clocking in at 19 songs, the project includes songs like “Playlist .”, “Fire & Ice . ” and “Forget Me Knot.” We still don’t know if that’s the final form.

A Very David Lynchian Aesthetic

Mink has begun slowly fleshing out a cohesive, Californian-inspired visual world for Terrified, which draws direct influence from the rapper’s favorite director: David Lynch. The only officially confirmed cut on the album, which also doubles as the lead single, is entitled “Night, Blooming Jasmine.” – the epitaph engraved on Lynch’s gravestone, lifted from an interview quote of his – and the video continues to pay homage to Lynch’s visual identity. This past week, mink also dropped off an album trailer, which continues to lean into the California-coded creative world built for Terrified. It’s very Mulholland Drive-esque, which would make sense, as that’s mink’s routinely referenced favorite movie of all time. “I don’t look up to that many people,” mink said to Zane Lowe. “But I look up to David Lynch. I wish I could’ve spoken to him.” He elaborated to say that Terrified draws heavy references from a myriad of horror movies, ones that are even “weirder” than his favorite Lynch films.

Only Two Songs Have Samples

Coming off London Saviour, a very sample-heavy project, mink pivots on the new self-produced project. A majority of the album comes sans samples, the rapper revealed to Lowe. Only two tracks on the entire project have a sample embedded.

The Entire Project Was Written by fakemink and His Close Friend

Not only is all of Terrified self-produced, but it’s also fully written by the Essex artist – alongside one of his closest hometown friends from childhood, Rosh. That being said, the lyrical component of the project is likely to lean introspective and personal.

It’s Inspired by Dante’s Inferno

Last year, fakemink and his friends moved to Los Angeles for a few months. Admittedly, he says it f*cked him up, but ultimately, it informed the sonic structure of the project in its entirety. “I wanted it to start in Hell,” mink equates to his LA journey. “Low frequencies, ritual-esque drums, and the subject matter being lustful and prideful. The first one to eight tracks are me indulging in all of the seven deadly sins, and as the album progresses, the low frequencies leave. In the final song, ‘Etna’, there’s no drums. The lows are cut out. It’s high frequencies. It’s just guitar. It’s supposed to be an ambient track that’s calming.”

A Terrified Book and Movie Are Both On the Way

Continuing to draw from his time spent living out West in LA, fakemink told Lowe that Terrified will also come complemented by a book and movie – both of which extrapolate his personal experiences and anecdotes from LA. Written by mink, from his POV. “This book is a first-person account of my times in LA and New York – the off-camera version. It’s a very personal look at the time me and Rosh spent in LA. In the book, there’s another speaker as well. I’m not acknowledging the speaker, but the speaker is commenting on what I’m saying. I’m treating this entire album like an exploitation track, that’s why the first track is supposed to be uncomfortable to listen to.”

Potential Features

Fans have mixed thoughts on the feature slate. Early on in the rollout – before the formal announcement, even – mink said on livestream that there would be no features on the album. That has since changed, as he did confirm in a recent interview that the album even boasts a “secret” feature that not even his management knows about. Many are thinking Drake. Other names that have been thrown around for additional features include Nettspend, EsDeeKid, zukovstheworld, Ghostinnafurcoat, and Rosh.