Musical career
2009: NRK and beginnings
After moving to Powder Springs, Georgia as an early highschooler, Williams started making music with friends for the sake of listening to while skateboarding. Initially he started working with the rapper KC 2.0 (now Lombardi), titling their rap duo “Kash and Gullie”, later including other neighbourhood friends of his, who went by the pseudonyms of “Adlive Murdock” (later, Pyramid Murdock) and “The Original” (later, Gloomy Pyramid). Eventually fellow artists and friends of Williams such as Tyler Major, Andre McCloud, and Floyd Mables had joined the group, renaming themselves “The Bandits” and releasing a mixtape entitled “The Goodwill tape” in 2009. Later members included artists such as “Lui Diamonds”, “Pyramid Quince”, and “Mr Notthstar”. NRK member Jay Cue suggested they name their group “NRK”, which stood for “Nobody Really Knows”. [4]
The group went onto perform numerous live shows, all releasing projects on their own NRK music label on bandcamp and their own website. The members of the group continue to work with each other and Williams throughout their careers. Williams’ mother had always been supportive of his musical endeavors, letting him and the rest of NRK work in their house’s basement as a rudimentary recording studio. [5]
Before “The Goodwill Tape” was released In 2009, Williams reached out to Odd Future artist Matt Martians on the social media then known as Twitter, requesting that he help mix and master the songs on the project. This marked the beginning of their longstanding collaborative relationship. [6]
2010-2012: Odd Future, Jet Age of Tomorrow beginnings, and initial solo projects
In 2010 Williams would start seriously pursuing music as a career path, while being mentored by Matt Martians with the rest of NRK. That year, not only did he release what was considered his “first” solo project of the Eloise EP, but also continued experimenting with numerous musical styles with Matt Martians as “The Jet Age of Tomorrow” (then “The Super 3”), becoming an Odd Future sub-group. [7]
The Jet Age of Tomorrow would blend psychedelic neo-soul with the experimental approach to hip hop Williams would later become known for. Two albums would be released that year from the duo via Odd Future's Tumblr page, Voyager, and Journey to the 5th Echelon. The former being a mostly instrumental project featuring the song titled “The Knight Hawks” which was later sampled by Kendrick Lamar on the song “A.D.H.D” [8] , and the latter being a larger scale project with guest appearances from both additional Odd Future members and affiliates such as Hodgy, Tyler the creator, Mike G, Casey Veggies, Vince Staples, and Kilo Kish, alongside NRK members such as Jay Cue and Tyler Major. [9]
On February 4, 2011, a music video for the album’s track, "Wonderland" had been posted on the official Odd Future YouTube channel. [10]
Both albums had distinctly excluded the wider efforts towards shock value Odd Future fans had come to expect from the other members, instead opting for a greater emphasis on atmospheric melodies and electronic approaches to acid jazz. [11] That same year, NRK would release a mixtape entitled “The Nobody Really Knows Us: Compilation of Audible Sound Vol.1”, more simply alternatively titled “The NRK Compilation”. featuring production and vocals from nearly all NRK members. [12]
Williams continued to pursue his musical career with his first major solo effort in 2011 known as “The Story of Marsha Lotus'”. The project was released via Stroll on Records, with genres ranging from avant garde jazz to psychedelic hip-hop. And despite consisting of only five tracks. The record was noted for its ambition, despite consisting only of 6 tracks, some were 15 to 18 minutes in length. The album would see a re-release on vinyl and streaming services in 2012. [13] [14]
Alongside the jet age of tomorrow, now frequent collaborator Matt Martians would attempt to start another musical project with Williams known as The Internet, alongside other odd future members of Syd and Left Brain. While both Williams and Left Brain, would go on to feature on The Internet’s first album Purple naked Ladies on the tracks “Gurl” and “Cocaine” respectively, the project developed into being solely a duo effort between Martians and Syd. [15]
In july of 2012, Williams released the song “Drain”, featuring Syd (under the alias of ‘Frisco’) along with an accompanying music video. The track would serve as the first single to William’s debut studio album, “Pyramid”. [16]
Other promotion for the album, included a self-titled mixtape entitled “PYRAMIDVRITRA”, composed of draft material which did not make the final cut of the Pyramid album. The mixtape released on November 11, 2011, being his 20th birthday. [17]
On august 7th 2012, Williams would release ‘Pyramid’, describing the album as “whimsical, dreamy, technical, s[e]mi-lethargic, experimental anger pop”. Alongside Syd, the album featured familiar collaborator Matt Martians, NRK members Andre McCloud, K.C 2.0 Pyramid Murdock, and Tyler Major, alongside additional features of Speak! and Gary Wilson. [18]
In 2012, Williams would also form the NRK side project of Rose Gold Dutch Masters, consisting of NRK members, Tyler Major, Pyramid Murdock, Andre McCloud alongside Williams himself. The group was featured alongside additional NRK member Jay Cue, Matt Martians, and a young Vince Staples on an 18 minute EP by Williams, consisting of a single track, titled “Elenor”. [19]
The project would fully culminate in a mixtape with longtime collaborator Caleb Stone entitled “-___-”, alternatively verbally titled “Smuggins”, which they released tumblr for free. The mixtape was described featuring the blends of hip hop with neo-Soul synth funk NRK and Jet age of Tomorrow fans had come to expect, with a noted emphasis on how no samples were utilized during its production.
As the Jet Age of Tomorrow began to achieve momentum in the underground Hip Hop community, Williams would move from Georgia to Los Angeles to live with Matt Martians to work closer on musical projects as well as attend label meetings. This, however, would be for only a short period of time, as both Williams and Martians were evicted from their apartment, obliging Williams to move back to Georgia for a year. This frustrated Williams, as when he returned, he had felt like most Odd Future acts had already been signed and built their careers, while he was left behind, unable to secure similar success. “I was experiencing the success of Odd Future, but I wasn’t necessarily a part of it. Everybody had all this money, but I was the one driving people around asking for gas money.” [20]
2013-2015: Stones Throw Records and The Jellyfish Mentality
In 2013, Hal Williams with Matt Martians would release one of their last collaborative projects for some time, with their project “The Jellyfish Mentality”. The project featured more Odd Future members and collaborators such as Earl Sweatshirt, Mac Miller, Casey Veggies, Mike G Hodgy, Vince Staples, Domo Genesis, and Kilo Kish. [21]
A music video for the bonus track “Delta” was released on Williams’ NRK youtube channel. This same year, Williams would be signed to his first major record label, that being Stones Throw Records, a label featuring major acts such as Madlib, MF DOOM and James Pants. The record label would be the first to significantly promote Williams outside of his own NRK platforms.
This had culminated in further publicity for his 2nd studio album titled “Indra”, being the name of the God of thunder and rain, who is said to have defeated the God of chaos, Vritra, in Hindu mythology. Like most of his work, the project was entirely produced by Williams himself.
With the album’s release in 2014, Stonesthrow records propelled the album with music videos for the songs “Tea and Lemonade”, “Spool”, and “Eleven12”. The album was also promoted by Williams himself in 2013, with an EP titled “Big Ralph’s Midnight Pink River Weather Grey” to generate interest in his then forthcoming studio release.
While the album received admiration and praise within the underground hip-hop scene, Williams was still unable to maintain the means to leave his job as a forklift operator between touring and performing with his label. [22]
Under Stones Throw records, the ‘Palace’ EP would be released, marking the first in a series of smaller scale, more rap-centric extended plays. The project and its sequel ‘PV2’ would spawn music videos for tracks such as ‘Palace’ and ‘224’, and ‘Like Summer’ respectively.
From there Willims would announce his third studio album ‘Dānu’. However, by 2015 Williams had no longer been signed under Stones Throw, and again had to rely on his own NRK label to promote the project. However, after performing at Low End Theory, Williams along with the rest of NRK had been recognized by ‘Daddy Kev’ of Los Angeles based record label of ‘Alpha Pup records’, allowing them to distribute not only projects such as Dānu, but the projects of other NRK members Alpha Pup’s branch of “The Order” label. [23] Dānu’s release was preceded and followed by singles and accompanying music videos for the tracks “58 (Heavy)”, “IDLI2TSNM (I Don't Look In 2 Tha Sky No Mo)”, and “V”.
2016-2018: VRITRA, Yellowing, and The Jet Age of Tomorrow reunion
In 2016, Williams released the album Yellowing, signaling a transformative era in both his musical career and own life. In a statement to “hypebeast” magazine, Williams announced “Yellowing represents a change in my production style and subject matter. The entire project is about getting older, and yellowing as plastic does and pictures do when they age.” The album featured the track “Wings” which was dedicated to William’s then newly born son, Ivan. [24]
The album was the first of William’s solo efforts to be released under the Alias “VRITRA”, rather than “Pyramid Vritra”, to indicate an advancement to a more matured era in both his musical artistry, and outlook on his own life experiences. [25] Around this time NRK members on The Order label would follow suit, with acts such as Pyramid Quince and Pyramid Murdock rebranding to Coodie Breeze and Mayhem Murdock respectively.
From there, Williams would go on to release an EP titled “I Miss My Son & My Wife :(“ alternatively titled “IM2S+MW” on platforms such as Bandcamp. Featuring production on the song “Failsafe”, by Matt Martians as the Jet Age of Tomorrow, beckoning one of the first instances of their professional relationship reuniting since William’s period with Stone’s Throw. [26]
In 2017, the reunion of Williams and Matt Martians would culminate in the fourth and final Jet Age of Tomorrow album, “God’s Poop or Clouds?” with features from Earl Sweatshirt, India Shawn, Mark Us Free, and Syd, as well as contributions from more recently included members of The Internet, such as Patrick Page II, Christopher Allan Smith, and Steve Lacy [27] The album would be released via Martian’s newly formed, independent record label “5th Echelon Jet Repair Co”, named after their second project.
In an interview with the Fader, Martians spoke on the ending of the project, stating “I don't think there'll be another Jet Age album. It was a lot easier to make those records before, and that's just growing up.” [28]
After this, Williams would go on to release a solo project entitled “HAL”, only one week later. [29]
In 2018, Williams had a duel release of two extended plays, “Felicity” and “Double Rainbow”, both on the 10th of November that year.
2019-Onward: Wilma Vritra, FEMME, SONAR, and 72 Demons
Both 2019 and 2020 were more transformative years for Hal Williams, especially with the formation of a new project with British producer/Composer Wilma Archer, “Wilma Vritra”. Williams had Archer’s attention since 2017, and began working together in 2018 on their then upcoming album “Burd”. The duo solely worked together via email at first, then met in Los Angeles to finish the recording process. The album differed quite heavily from William’s other musical endeavors, in that he had next to no output on the instrumentation, which was instead handled by Wilma Archer with help from Tenor Saxophonist, Theo Erskine [30]
This, according to Williams, allowed him to better focus on expressing his own story lyrically, especially through the difficulties in his personal life he had while experiencing depression at the time. [31] The album was released on April 5, 2019 via Bad Taste records to generally positive reviews by critics and fans alike, and spawned various music videos for the songs “Ketchup” and “Targets & Digits”.
The single “Shallow Grave” received a significant amount of traction from a mainstream audience, earning millions of streams on platforms such as Spotify, and being featured on the soundtrack to the American drama film The Fallout directed by Megan Park. [32] The song was also used in a commercial for O2, a major British telecommunications services provider. [33]
Later in 2019, Williams would release his Sixth solo studio album FEMME on Blossöm records. The album would be released alongside a 4-part music video series, featuring the tracks “Focus” (featuring NRK member Jay Cue and Tara Byars as Tequila Mockingbird), “Girl in Shorts”, “Feel Better”, and “HODL”. [34]
That same year, Williams would also release separate three extended plays, One being a collaborative work with Los Angeles based rapper “Red Bag” titled “PV vs Red Bag”, the second being a sequel to the 2016 collaborative EP with N01SES, “Per Capita” titled “PC2”, and the third being a completely instrumental, self produced EP “Larane, In Christ, At Mass”. [35]
With the momentum of Wilma Vritra on Bad Taste records, Williams would released his seventh studio album “SONAR” on the same label in 2020. The album, much, like 2019’s “Burd”, did not feature production from Williams himself, rather serving as a collaborative effort between him and longtime NRK affiliate, and son of Leon Sylvers III of the R&B family vocal group “The Sylvers”, Leon Sylvers IV. The album served as a primarily jazz rap focused work, differing from William’s more self proclaimed “alternative dance [music], just from a more hip-hop perspective”. [36] The album was preceded by the Extended Play, “FLOATERS”, also fully produced by Sylvers. “SONAR” spawned two music videos released via Bad Taste records’ YouTube channel “Air Raid”, and “What’s That”, with a third video being directed and released by Williams himself for the song “Closer To God”
In 2021, Williams would continue his work with Blössom records, releasing an Extended Play entitled “Dark, Dark High Contrast”, spawning music videos for the tracks “Mirror!”, and “ULTRAVIOLET”. That same year Williams would also develop a new alias to release music under Blössom Records “LaRane”, prompting two singles “Prase”, and “We Need Electricity”.
In 2022, Williams would release the second studio effort with Wilma Archer as Wilma Vritra, entitled “Grotto”. The duo described the project in a statement to “The Fader”, “The album is about self-preservation, private reflection and personal refuge from an oppressive exterior”. [37] “Grotto”, spawned music videos for the singles “One Under”, and “Clean Me Clean”, and received more generally positive reviews from fans and critics, admiring the atmospheric production of Archer and laid back vocal style of Williams.
Later, Williams also began releasing music with another alias of “72 Demons”. This would spawn the development of a weekly series of singles produced with his son, Ivan Williams, developing into 2 Extended plays titled "Fitness P1" and "Fitness P2" respectively. A single under the alias entitled "NOTHING MATTERS" was released in 2024, with a bandcamp exclusive B-side; "YOU DONT EVEN HAVE TO ASK ME".
Williams would then release another Blössom records EP, “VOID!” Marking a partial return to production since Femme, though still including some production with Leon Sylvers IV. The project served as a single, 19 minute long track, released as separate tracks via an NFT series. [38] In 2023, The project would have a conventional rerelease as separate tracks on Bandcamp, and would then be rereleased in the form of an entirely reimagined version of the project on streaming services, known as “DEVOID”.
2022 would also see the release of two more extended plays, one with singer-songwriter, rapper, and record producer from the Philippines, Eyedress, entitled “THEY ONLY LOVE YOU WHEN YOU LOVE YOU”, and “SNAKESS”, featuring more production from Sylvers, Ivan Williams, and Williams himself accompanying another NFT series.
