ANESU
‘ROBIN HOOD’ ft LILPIXIE
I’m going to make this all about me for a little minute. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
‘Robin Hood’…[is] good from the very beginning, and on subsequent listens, it just gets better and better.
Since announcing my true existence to the world some time ago it’s been interesting to say the least. Trading privilege for prejudice has tested every part of me, sent me back into therapy, lost me income and meant I’ve had to bring to the fore the fighter that has always been part of my nature. I now openly identify as an activist, although I don’t wear the label ‘transgender’ for political reasons. As well as the far right and the politicians who pander to their desire to erase gender diverse people, I also get to deal with the people who stereotype me furiously, ignoring my individuality because they can’t see past their own well-meaning worldviews. It goes along the lines of, ‘you’re this, so you must be into/know about that.’ I’ll say no more about it here except, think about it people. Saying dumb shit like that is really debilitating. If you’re going to be an ally, first listen, second listen and third, shut up. Then repeat.
But, you know, it does from time to time bring me gems like the new single from ANESU, who is trans like me but, because he’s also a living, breathing human being, nothing like me at all. That would be like saying, hey, ANESU, I went to school in Rhodesia for a time while my family aspired to emulate white colonial oppression, so, because you were born in Zimbabwe, we must be kindred spirits.
All I can say, is thank fuck for music, especially music as sublime as ANESU’s recently released single, ‘Robin Hood’. Featuring a collaboration with rising Western Sydney artist, LILPIXIE, ‘Robin Hood’ is a persistently trancelike hip hop exploration of belonging. Opening with LILPIXIE’s siren call, Comin’, comin’, comin’, home, the track quickly picks up the pace with ANESU pumping out the rhymes almost faster than my old brain can follow them.
The slow pace of my mind isn’t the only reason ‘Robin Hood’ demands more than one listen, though. It’s good from the very beginning, and on subsequent listens, it just gets better and better, not only because the words keep snaking through each other revealing layers of meaning and context that will speak differently to every audient, but because it has all the warmth and sparkle of a summer’s day and all the razor sharp wit and musical smarts of an artist who is already revered, not only for what he’s already done in a relatively short career, but for what he inevitably will be.
‘Robin Hood’ is the precursor track to ANESU’s upcoming debut EP, Bad Habits, due for release early December. If this single is any indication of what’s to come, ANESU will be soundtracking the 2024-25 summers of music lovers across the globe and making memories that will last a lifetime. And, if his music and lyrics encourage people to just be themselves, maybe we do have something in common.
