Hip hop has always been quite minimal—at least, when it comes to making music. When the genre first arose, all you really needed was a DJ and a turntable. Now, it's a laptop and a drum machine. Yet nothing can truly replicate the energy of live instrumentation and arrangements, which most artists understand and utilise to their benefit.   

Rapper Mary Sue took it one step further by creating and recording an entire album with the band Clementi Sound Appreciation Club. Porcelain Shield, Paper Sword is a masterclass in collaboration, with the band’s soulful melodies and jazzy inflections perfectly matched by Mary Sue’s punchy boom bap flow. After successfully launching their album in a live show under Mosaic Music Series, we had the band reprise their magic again at Esplanade, this time in the cargo lift. 

Audio: 4th Wall Studios 
Video: Lee Jing Wei 

Special thanks to Lotto Carpets Gallery for the loan of the carpet.

About the artist

A rapper and producer hailing from Singapore, Mary Sue started making and releasing music during the pandemic. Sue's glitchy, sample-heavy sound paired with introspective lyrics has helped him develop a growing presence in the underground abstract hip hop scenes in the US, UK and Australia, as well as releasing music with London based hip-hop collective Higher Self. Sue released his debut album KISSES OF LIFE in February 2022, which was critically praised and featured on multiple online music publications such as Best Hip Hop on Bandcamp, NME, and HipHop-DX.