Heems, formerly of Das Racist, has made a career of alternatively shockingly intellectual treatises and boneheaded non-sequiturs. He is an uproarious metamodernist, an anti-rapper whose production and flow is brilliant despite the madness. But seldom is Heems serious. That’s why “Home,” the first single from “Eat, Pray, Thug,” his March 10 release, is so new. Not only is Heems grounded, but Dev Hynes—better know as Blood Orange—provides an equally somber and ambient soundscape for Heems’s seemingly unironic angst. The result, a minimalist but hard-hitting track, shows that Heems can resist esoteric shout-outs or slob-boy personae and still be engaging.

{shortcode-4eeb9cf25ff2aded1cbfe3b8eb0ddd4d10e6dc76}

Heems raps the self-aware chorus to Das Racist’s anthemic “hahahaha jk,” where he states that the group is “Not joking / Just joking / We are joking / Just joking / We’re not joking.” Maybe Heems has just abandoned constant toggling of authenticity and humor for a facsimile of emotional forthrightness. In any case, lines like “When it’s cold outside / Yeah I miss you / But we had too many issues” seem honest. Heems also sings most of the lines in a focused and angry baritone that is far more on-pitch and controlled than most of his other melodic efforts. If he’s trying to make fun of angsty melodic rap anthems, he has created an awfully impressive one.

The story is fairly straightforward: Heems has gone through a horrific breakup and is not over it. He addresses his girlfriend, telling her “Shawty listen / quit your bitchin’ / Be my remix to ‘Ignition.’” Yes, this and a couple of other lines in the Heems’s second verse are admittedly chuckle-worthy. But even they seem to be a reflection of his feelings rather than ironies. Hynes’s murky backing sounds more out of the 1980s than anything he has ever produced, which is quite a qualifier given his output. The calypso vibraphone that starts off the song is accompanied by a piercing, Prince-like guitar arpeggio that interpolates as Heems’s sad world comes into focus. It’s a gorgeously anachronistic accompaniment that is just morose enough to bring his woes into sharp focus.

Sincerity isn’t entirely new to Heems; his numerous mixtapes have more down-to-earth tracks, and his verse on Vampire Weekend’s “Step” remix poignantly describes a college relationship (“We went to Wesleyan and she scoffed at Vassar / I met her at a wine and cheese, I looked right past her”). The difference in “Home,” then, is Heems’s relative dearth of references and more measured, less modulating vocals. While “Home” may not be indicative of Heems’s general mood, the gravitas of the song is an unexpectedly welcome shift.

—Staff writer David J. Kurlander can be reached at david.kurlander@thecrimson.com