<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-20T17:30:38+00:00“>April 20, 2021 | 1:30pm ET

Our new music feature Origins allows artists to break down the inspiration behind their latest track. Today, 81355 give us insight into “Thumbs Up”.

In late March, Indianapolis rap trio 81355 (pronounced “Bless”) released the haunting “Capstone”, a track that earned our Song of the Week honors for intricately reflecting the Black experience in America while conveying the struggles of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 37d03d signees are back today with “Thumbs Up”, a hypnotic new single which finds the group struggling to find sanity in the chaotic world in which we live.

“Thumbs Up” features a beat mixing together psychedelic electronic production with boom bap. Group members Oreo Jones and Sirius Blvck trade vivid lyrics, while Sedcairn Archives handles the hook. Jones kicks things off by reminiscing on simpler times. “Popping my brain like a pimple, OMG everything used to be simple/ Snow White in the mirror,” he raps. “Who is the fairest of all/ Fentanyl killing these n-ggas before they can ever step foot in the ball.”

Sirius Blvck picks it up by describing his unbreakable will to survive. “Kick in the door/ Spilling the liquor the spirit done slipped the floors/ Giving it soul,” he urgently spits. “Stuck in a hole/ And rapping my way out of shoveling coal in the dark.”

“‘Thumbs Up’ is a look at our chaotic minds, writing this album in the midst of daily protests in the heart of this new pandemic space,” 81355 told Consequence. “It’s like smiling and holding up your thumb to signal everything is fine, while saying the polar opposite with your eyes. Like a David Lynch film. It’s a sunny day, but it’s very obvious this is a nightmare and how did I get here?”

The track will appear on 81355’s debut album, This Time I’ll Be of Use, out May 28th via 37d03d, the label co-founded by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner. “It’s a way to carve our story in the sky before we’re gone,” Blvck said about the LP. “This project is us choosing to believe that this time, things will be different. For us this album is an affirmation to the universe. This time I’ll choose to see the whole blessing. This time I’ll be of use.”

Jones added, “81355 means so much. It’s love, pain, anger, desire, happiness, hope. I don’t think this project would have been as significant if we hadn’t all connected together this past year under the current climate of the world. All three of us really pushed our individual boundaries, and you can hear that on the record.”

In an interview with Consequence, 81355 broke down the Origins of “Thumbs Up”, which found inspiration in their local community, African-American poet Etheridge Knight, and the classic action movie Terminator 2. Check out all they had to say ahead, and listen to the song below.

The Indianapolis community:

A lot of the themes and imagery were inspired by the community we live in. We tried to convey the landscape using poetry and production that paints a picture of violence, dreams shattered by substance abuse, mass incarceration, along with hopes and aspirations for a better tomorrow.

Poet Etheridge Knight:

I’ve been inspired by a lot of poetry from Etheridge Knight over the last year. In my verse I try to pay homage to the Indianapolis Icon. There is so much truth and realness to how he approaches art as it relates to actual people and the black experience. Sirius and I really try to capture that type of spirit through our writing.

Terminator 2:

Also, oddly enough as we were working on “Thumbs Up” in the studio, we were listening back to our first mix and Terminator 2 was playing in the background, specifically the scene where Arnold lowers himself in the molten metal and gives a thumbs up as he sacrifices himself.

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