Music
A look at Gesaffelstein's nebulous, powerful relationship with hip-hop
The dark prince of techno has spread his wings, but could he be a rap super-producer in waiting?
The French-House bubble burst in the early 2010s, resulting in the fading of some the genre’s biggest superstars. Daft Punk manager and Ed Banger Records boss Busy P went from being at the helm of electronic music’s most influential collective to wielding a bunch of questions about the end of an era. Around this time, burgeoning techno producer Gesaffelstein found a life raft to the mainstream with Kanye West.
Before being recruited as part of West’s brain trust for the experimental masterpiece Yeezus, Gesaffelstein famously eschewed the bombast and braggadocio of hip-hop. Born Mike Lévy, the Frenchman grew up with a fascination for the logical and sexless nature of electronic music. “It's music for farmers here,” he told Pitchfork in 2014. “There’s nothing sexy [about it] so the girls are not into [EDM]. They're into hip-hop because it's more sexy and they can understand that. There is nothing romantic about EDM [in France].”
Growing a fanbase for his brutalist, dark and threatening techno characterised in Viol, Pursuit, and Hate or Glory, Lévy exteriorised his music and shrouded himself in darkness. He turns up for his infrequent performances in tailored black suits, accessorised only by a lit cigarette balanced on the corner of his mouth.
Former Bromance Records label owner and Gesaffelstein collaborator, Brodinski sought to change Lévy's purist attitudes towards music. In a 2013 interview with Zane Lowe, Lévy admitted, “I just discovered hip-hop a few years ago with Brodinski, he's a huge fan of hip-hop and he plays it all the time. I [would] always be like "please stop this music" and he always would say "you have to listen." Brodinski’s discography and collaborations, all heavily influenced by hip-hop, became the impetus for Lévy's connection to the genre. “A guy like Brodinski, he can see the connection between hip-hop and electronic music,” Lévy told Lowe, “and [then] I saw the connection. I'm a huge fan of early electro, like Detroit house, Dopplereffekt, Drexciya, and it's almost like hip-hop. It’s almost the same rhythm, it’s the same 808s.”
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Kanye West’s sixth studio album, Yeezus famously featured production from many electronic producers, including Hudson Mohawke, Arca, Lunice, Brodinski, and Evian Christ; but it was Gesaffelstein’s industrial production that would come to define its iconoclastic sound. Recruited by West after hearing Viol – the menacing orchestral horror movie-like score – Lévy would work alongside him and recreate these soundscapes for Yeezus. “When I was with Kanye, he wasn't like, ‘Do something hip-hop.’ He was like, ‘Do what you want.’"
Lévy’s work on both Black Skinhead and Send It Up were undeniable mutations of his work as Gesaffelstein. The opening whirring “paranoid sawtooth synths” of Send It Up ring like an alarm that signal Lévy's arrival. Lévy shared West’s long-documented exploration of capitalism and party culture, which came together on Black Skinhead.
Despite consistently rejecting the sexuality and perceived vanity of hip-hop, Lévy would go on to embrace the genre’s soundscapes in a way he hadn’t before. On Hellifornia, a variation of Send It Up that appeared on his debut album, Aleph, Lévy embraces a darker twist on hyphy. The booming bass and frenetic tempo initially a first draft for Send It Up quickly became a fan-favourite and a peek into the hybrid music that was yet to come. “I try to be open to the world of hip-hop now because I think we can change a lot of things in this music,” Lévy proposed only a year after admitting he could barely listen to hip-hop. “I just want to work with people who want to change things. Now, it’s always the same beats. Yeezus was something different.”
While his album Aleph wouldn’t achieve the charting-success of Yeezus, it did spark an emerging interest from hip-hop artists seeking to replicate West’s techno-drenched chaos. Following his Skrillex collaboration Wild For The Night, A$AP Rocky recruited Lévy to produce In Distress for the soundtrack of dystopian science fiction film Divergent. Its maligned throb pulses against yelping siren samples which swallows Rocky whole. The track would signal the beginning of a virtual hiatus for Gesaffelstein.
Lévy's return to music in 2018 was marked by a collaboration with his dark and brooding R&B counterpart The Weeknd. On his surprise-released album My Dear Melancholy, the Weeknd (born Abel Tesfaye) embraced his long-established villainous persona on I Was Never There and Hurt You. Co-written and produced by Lévy, both songs feature Tesfaye’s characteristically petty and scathing lyrics, referencing ex-girlfriends Selena Gomez and Bella Hadid.
Leading up to his sophomore album Hyperion, Lévy's work with Tesfaye signified a change, not only in his sonic choices, but his role in the industry. Following the record’s release, Lévy signed with Columbia Records in November 2018.
Many producers and DJs find sustainable careers in the music industry one of two ways; by becoming EDM juggernauts akin to the dance music pumped throughout Las Vegas residencies or by creating cross-over star-studded efforts that resemble the likes of Calvin Harris or DJ Khaled. Hyperion was Gesaffelstein’s case in point for a third option.
Featuring the likes of Pharrell Williams, the Weeknd, HAIM, Electric Youth, and The Hacker, Hyperion promised a new perspective on the “star-studded” record. There are times when Pharrell and HAIM’s vocals seem at odds with the despondent nature of Lévy's music, other times there is an antiquated nod to the '80s. Whether the result is due to the major label signing or a new direction from Lévy itself remains to be seen – but his previous exploration of hip-hop is largely absent.
As one of the last vestiges of the 2000s booming French techno scene, Gesaffelstein has been a remarkable conduit for hip-hop’s growing eclectic and electric sound. Lost In The Fire served as a reintroduction to the dark and metallic soundscapes he first offered on Aleph but is tempered by its collaborative choices. Following in Daft Punk’s footsteps, Lévy's recruitment of Pharrell for Blast Off resulted in a similarly restrained electro-pop tidbit as Get Lucky.
Lévy's singing with Columbia coincided with the announcement of his upcoming performance at Coachella, which saw him billed in large print alongside Las Vegas veteran Zedd and latin phenomenon Bad Bunny. What's set to be his biggest performance yet, Lévy has a lot to gain and ostensibly prove. Having always operated as an outsider of the industry, Lévy continues to refuse to play by the rules of social media and self-promotion but is scheduled to be thrust into the spotlight this April.
As rap gains popularity beyond what it was in 2013, Gesaffelstein’s unique vision and mainstream viability have the ability to make him an influential force in rap once more.