Bladee’s Cold Visions has been out for well over two years now, and the dust has settled on the monumental record. Cold Visions truly is a masterpiece. With every listen, I find something new to love about the album. One thing I consistently notice and appreciate is Bladee’s callbacks to previous records.
This is nothing new; Bladee has been cheekily referencing his older work for a long time, as has his pal Yung Lean. On Cold Visions, however, it feels different; nearly every song references older records and songs, even deep cuts like I’m Lost receive a nod.
In this article, I want to take a closer look at some of the references (if I were to examine every single one, this article would turn into a long and tedious book), explore their meanings, and consider what Bladee means by making these references.
Bladee gets straight into the references on the opening track, Paranoia Intro. He has a line “Real in the flesh, ah yeah” which parallels his line in Skrillex’s SummerTime Blood “Reel in the flesh, standing straight and I’m sponsored by faith”. This reference appears to show some growth for Bladee. I think an interesting distinction in these lyrics is the use of ‘real’ vs ‘reel’. In SummerTime Blood, Bladee is reeling himself in, hiding his flesh and his personality, whereas now he is real, himself and authentic and is possibly more comfortable with his fame. I remember years ago when Bladee never did interviews, but now he is pretty consistently featured in magazines, YouTube videos, etc. It does beg the question, how much of what we get from Bladee and other artists is real and how much is created?
This song is full to the brim with old references and teases. Bladee, early on, hits us with a recurring reference, “I’m the rain king, can’t stop the rain”. Bladee often refers to himself as the rain king. On his debut mixtape, Gluee, he says, “Rain King, no feelings, this timezone is evil,” talking about the gloomy weather in Sweden and its effect on him and his friends. Back on The Fool Intro Bladee referenced it again, saying, “Rain won’t drop until I say so, I’m the rain king, ayo’, once again referencing his title but also referencing the seemingly abandoned and long anticipated project of Rainworld, a project that many Drainers have been pining for for years, but like Play Em Like Atari, it is never coming out.
Bladee also gives a nod to Topman when he raps “I know I fell off, but this is the comeback”, a line he originally came out with in the 2018 release “I know I fell off but this the comeback, been on top, but I don’t shop at Topman”. To me, this could be referencing his anxieties after the release of Spiderr. In a Guardian article, he said he had so much anxiety following that album’s release and his massive growth in popularity. Bladee definitely didn’t need to feel anxious, as Cold Visions delivered to fans and critics alike; however, it raises the question of musicians’ mental health and the constant pressure to deliver and perform (see his early line about being ‘real in the flesh’). As a side note, I love Spiderr, not here for any slander.
I could go on about references in this song, such as his other nod to Icedancer, his reference to a Thaiboy bar from Still in Search Of Sunshine and further callbacks to Gluee and Eversince, but we should move on.
Now this is one of my favourite callbacks, and it isn’t even to a previous piece of music. “I’m with Lean, buying the Gucci store, it’s like breathing air” is a direct reference to one of my favourite Bladee Instagram posts. Of course, as the post shows, Leandoer is just casually buying some Gucci; this, to him and Bladee, is a regular occurrence, nothing special or noteworthy. Bladee’s social media game is unrivalled, his tweets are gold, and his Instagram feed is always a treat
This song sees Bladee callback to one of my favourite singles of his, “Trash Star, this shit is funny to me” in direct reference to his 2019 single, Trash Star. Bladee constantly talks about being a star in a trash world where everything is meaningless; he does not care for the fame or the money like a lot of others do.
Also in this song, Bladee references a classic Bladee tweet, “this Drain Gang High School I enrolled”. Bladee here is referencing “Inspiration Comes” off of The Fool, where he rapped about “Drain Highschool football tryouts,” which again references a 2017 tweet where he informs us that it was the last for DG highschools Good Boy diploma. Gutted I didn’t make the cut for the team, Cole Palmer (who is Drain adjacent by the way) beat me to it.
Now, earlier in this song, big Thaiboy already rewards us with a nod to his and Yung Lean’s classic, First Class, but Bladee decides to drop some big callbacks here too. Bladee talks about “Man, the baddest hand I’m dealt”, which, to me, is calling back to Oh Well from 333, where he raps “Oh well, play the cards that I’m given”. I love this reference; it shows that, despite it all and despite things outside Bladee’s control, he will still deal with what life gives him. For someone who has had so many dark bars, Bladee’s optimism is always so refreshing to hear, especially with the world we all find ourselves in today.
Bladee also references his legendary opening bar from Pearl Fountain, “Saddest story I can’t tell” In Pearl Fountain, he comes into the song like an angel, rapping about the “saddest story ever told”. It is nice to see that on this album, Bladee is looking back at his discography and what he has done, giving recognition to some fan favourites, such as his verse on ‘Pearl Fountain’.
Again, Bladee has plenty more callbacks in this song to songs from Crest and Woesum’s Blue Summer, but I must go on.
Finally, I just have to talk about some of the callbacks on this song. Firstly, Bladee references one of his biggest songs, Hotel Breakfast, when he raps, “I’ve been going back to cussing”, a sharp turnaround from his declaration on Hotel Breakfast that “I’m a good boy on the track, no cussing”. Evil Bladee returns.
Bladee references Hotel Breakfast again later in the track “hail king nothing, only king that kills for nothing, hail (nothing)” which ties to his declaration on Hotel Breakfast: “king nothing, I am nothing”.
Bladee calls back to another infamous line of his when he says, “I’ve been enforcing the policy, no touching”. This is a reference to Who Goes There from Eversince, where Bladee said, “No touching, I find it disgusting”. This line from Who Goes There is often joked about, but it is a very valid point: people, especially nowadays, feel all too comfortable touching and getting too close to famous people they do not know. We see it every day online, boundaries are crossed, the said famous person reacts in a reasonable manner, and people act as if they’re the weird ones. That and everythings got all thes bacteria on it and its fucking gross if you think about it.
There are so many more fun callbacks and references on this album, not only from Bladee but also from Yung Lean and Thaiboy. But what do all these references mean, if anything at all? I think Bladee has been around for such a long time and is at such an established point in his career that it is probably just a bit of fun, calling back to some fan-favourite lines and tweets, as well as some deep cuts.
I think what makes Cold Visions so great is that it is not only innovative but also draws on so much of Bladee’s past works and things that made so many of us fans of his in the first place. With the release of Sulfur Surfer and Paradise, Yung Lean featuring in a couple of films and Ecco2k linking up with newer acts in the scene like fakemink, it really is an exciting time for Drain Gang and Sadboys. I can’t wait to see what they do next.
by n8n.
