2024 has been an unexpectedly eventful year for Malaysian-Australian singer-songwriter Yeo. When the YouTube Music exclusive release of Playboi Carti‘s '2024' became a sensation (currently sitting on 62 million views), an anonymous Reddit user deconstructed the song's backing track to uncover the sample, and identified the original song and artist.
To many fans' surprise, the sample was revealed to be Yeo’s deep cut from 2013 titled 'Jacob’s Ladder'.
Starting off with a grinding, foreboding blend of synths that ebb and flow alongside Yeo’s signature cerebral and beautifully morbid lyricism, the song is a slow burn that artfully winds its way to new heights, metaphorically and also now literally.
Yeo shares the story behind the original track, “It's about an anxiety attack, how things change as we grow up, and my intention to stay kind and supportive when my friends have a rough time. The song title and imagery in the chorus come from the biblical story of the siblings Jacob and Esau, in which Jacob, after betraying his brother and fleeing from him, dreams of a ladder reaching to heaven."
Telling the full story for the first time on The Asian Mental Health Podcast on the episode “How I Chose My Creative Career”, Yeo opens up about his complex feelings around being sampled without consent on Carti’s hit.
“I respect sampling culture. I know that a lot of my favourite R&B and hip-hop records wouldn't exist without that "shoot first, ask questions later" attitude… Secondly, though, I also was like, "You stole my music. That’s my intellectual property", that song ('2024') is that song because of my vocal sample that's been chopped up and put in there. So, yeah, there was a lot going on.”
After a protracted legal discussion that eventually saw the unauthorised use of 'Jacob’s Ladder' resolved, Yeo has found himself credited alongside some of the biggest names in Western hip-hop today like Kanye West.
The song and wider body of work from his 2013 album titled Sell Out places Yeo squarely in a seminal period of sonic transition that precedes the creation of his most famous tracks such as 'Girl,', 'Icarus' and 'The Comments'.
Retaining elements of upbeat soul/funk, country-twinged bass and grungy garage/synth experimentation, the album incorporates many of the genre-bending producers’ past selves whilst hinting towards what would eventually become Yeo’s signature grungy yet hopeful sound.
A record released over a decade ago, many of the tracks sit in limbo; reconstructed from the polished contemporary electronic and synth pop production we hear often today, but they are by no means dated. Tracks such as “FOASU” feel like a Frankenstein's monster of conventional electronic pop structures, while 'Burden' reimagines a country ballad against an ambient selection of synths and reverb-y bass with an R&B edge, creating a sense of rumbling dissonance that extends through most of the album.
Sell Out hangs in the balance as a timeless experimentation; bookended only by the other ends of Yeo’s discography, further reflecting his consistent innovation as a producer and singer-songwriter. And now, the album has been given new meaning through the new contemporary work it has inspired.
“The concept of Sell Out feels strikingly relevant in 2024, as independent artists worldwide struggle to eke out their existence in a harsh global economy—one in which consumers assume music costs nothing to make and that artists don't deserve fair compensation for their work. This album has sat on Bandcamp, a silent witness to my many attempts to honour the creative momentum it sparked. Listening back, I oscillate between cringing and feeling proud. I hear myself creating without restraint, packing each song with as many chord progressions, arpeggios, hooks, and production flourishes as I could fit into my weird stories. It’s clumsy, and each track feels like a new discovery of a VST or genre, but that’s always been my way—unpolished, experimental, and unapologetically me.”
The re-release of 'Jacob’s Ladder' and the full Sell Out album on streaming platforms marks the close of a drawn-out, year-long exercise in asserting a triumphant victory for Yeo.
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