Detroit's homegrown, rapping-producing legend Black Milk returns with "Laugh Now Cry Later," a somber, self-produced meditation on the perceived hollowness of virtue signals, the ephemerality of inner peace and the small horrors we're able to dismiss one moment before painfully confronting them the next. Hence the title, "Laugh Now Cry Later," premiered exclusively on XXL.

Featuring an audio collage of vocal samples, steady tribal percussion and bits of electric guitar, the track finds Black Milk jumping in and out of stanzas as he offers observations about a desensitized existence in the age of social media.

"On the timeline, should I hide in a disguise/From strangers, watching my highs, or my demise—laugh now, cry later," the Detroit raps at one point in the song. "From raps to movies, to Black is beauty/Cop didn't feel the same, so he had to shoot me," he spits at another point.

Black Milk says "Laugh Now Cry Later" is one of the darker selections from his forthcoming FEVER album. "I played it for Chris 'Daddy' Dave who wanted to add percussion to it," Black Milk tells XXL of the song. "It’s easily one of the darkest songs on the album and represents the shift from my original intentions to make a 'happy' album to letting the darker sounds flow out of me. On this one, I touch on a number of topics presented on social media, such as being woke/fake woke, cultural appropriation, police brutality, and men ignorantly giving their two cents on women’s issues. I also address the social media rollercoaster that takes us from outrage to comedy within seconds."

The MC says he wanted to make a more upbeat album but the happenings of the world, specifically those surrounding the last U.S. presidential election, made that harder than he imagined.

“I wanted to make a more colorful, feel-good album because I felt like my last two albums were pretty dark," he reveals. "Of course, between the election and the intense political and social climate, it was hard for me to stay on that feel-good vibe.”

"Laught Now Cry Later" is the first single from Black Milk's FEVER album, due out Feb. 23. The album is available for preorder now.

Listen to "Laugh Now Cry Later" and check the album cover below.

Mass Appeal / Computer Ugly
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