Benaddict - The Art and Crutch of Being Yourself
The fact that success continuously comes at the cost of authenticity in the music world is completely backwards. Stories of artists ‘selling their souls’ have plagued the industry from the days of Robert Johnson and the 1930s. Other tales have been trickling through time since then and still are circulating now as whispers or ‘silly’ rumours.
If there is a demented ritual or secret passage into the realms of infamy and success or not belies the point. The point is that artists and people can’t be themselves in their music. That they have to cater to the big record labels - produce what they want them to produce. Have the soul ripped out of them, reduced to nothing but a money-printing machine.
If you constantly bark on about how ‘music has fallen off’ then the answer lies somewhere within the fact that individualism and creativity, authenticity and soul - all the things that leave you dripping with emotion when you hear music, are being stripped away for an all-encompassing wave of sterility at the top.
In that sense, music has fallen off. But that doesn’t mean there’s not talented people making music. Unfortunately they’re just harder to find now. But they’re very much still there.
Ben Diamond is a UK hip-hop artist from Tunbridge Wells in Kent. Going by the stage name of ‘Benaddict ’, he was prominent in the late 2010s and early 2020s but hasn’t released any music for the past three years.
Diamond encapsulates the aforementioned world of music perfectly. An immensely talented rapper with the ability to weave through songs with his words so effortlessly. His sound falls in the region of ‘jazz rap’ but it’s so much more. The music he makes is easy on the ear and tranquil. His voice perfectly suits the laid-back, soulful instrumentals he struts on.
But the real draw, the reason this article is being written is what’s in his words. The rapper’s whole catalogue reads like it’s a diary entry. It’s deeply personable and at points quite sad, but it’s relatable to almost every young man navigating the complexities of early adulthood. Diamond rattles off his struggles with finding purpose in his music, feeling lost, friendship, love and everything in between.
At its core, it’s just a thoughtful man thinking about life out loud. But it resonates. Maybe it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. A lot of people listen to music to escape from life and would rather not be reminded about all the cruelties it comes with. Perhaps why he never blew - maybe the subject matter was just too much.
Andre 3000 said it best: “Ya’ll don’t wanna hear me you just wanna dance”.
Don’t come away with this thinking Benaddict makes depressing music. He makes music through his lens of life and life can sometimes be depressing. His whole sound is anything but solemn. It’s calming. It’s the best of jazz meeting a talented writer with a outlet to express his creativity.
Diamond has released 3 albums and 1 EP so far. All consistently brilliant but his sophomore album “Teal” takes the cake for his best (subjectively). He partners with the richness of Ella Mae Sueref to create a seamless album from head to toe. It peaks with the title track ‘Teal’, a satisfying ballad talking about youth and wanting to be free outs
ide the realms of normal life and the pressures in tandem with it. It’s feel good, it’s catchy but still introspective enough to capture thought. Benaddict and Ella Mae Sueref work together on this album so well and this song might be the zenith of their chemistry.
Other noteworthy songs in his catalogue are ones such as ‘Home (Village Live)’, ‘Eb’, ‘Struggling’, ‘Strange Plants’, and ‘Birds Of A Feather’ but they quality of all his songs barely deviate in terms of quality.
This isn’t an article to tell you that you need to go and listen to this artist and if you do and don’t like him - you know nothing. Music is great because it’s subjective. If everyone liked the same stuff it would be boring. This is just an attempt at highlighting an artist who’s the antithesis of what exists at the top of the music industry right now and to demonstrate how much talent there is when you go out of your way to find it.
The fact he hasn’t released anything in 3 years probably has a lot to do with his 30,000 monthly listeners on Spotify - which in the grand scheme of things shows he is very underground. But who cares, truly? Maybe Diamond never wanted to blow up and become mainstream. Maybe he didn’t want to be coerced into making music that he didn’t relate to. Maybe he’s now found his solace elsewhere and has left music altogether for something completely different. Who knows?
There’s a bunch of Benaddict’s out there with a story to tell. A plethora of talented people who didn’t fit the tainted vision of those with the power to make careers. In one way, it’s a shame he never got the recognition his talent deserved but there’s no guarantee his message and sound would’ve stayed the same it did. If he has no regrets about how his career has evolved over time, who am I to cast a dim tone over it.
Who knows, maybe he’ll return one day with more great music. But if he doesn’t, he’s left a legacy of soul-fulfilling and relatable songs which have reached people in ways he probably can’t imagine.