The Playground Meets: The Bare Max (TBM)
By: Zahir Byam
The Bare Max is an eccentric group of adolescents that came together through their mutual love of hip hop music, life, and magnetizing personalities. The group consists of Bert, Lamuse, Glen, and Caleb. Each member brings a unique flare to the table which perfectly creates their ensemble.
The Bare Max has a very stylistic approach to hip hop music. It has a very vintage sound and is very reminiscent of The Fugees, with a modern twist, through their choice of production, lyrical stylings, and overall outlook on music. This can be heard on their song Face. This record has sinister production with each member delivering bars that bring the song to life. Bert does an amazing job bringing everything full circle on the hook. The video showcases the group in their element walking through Domino Park. On their record C4MYSELF, the group toys with melodies and instrumentation on this song that sounds radio ready! Lamuse opens the record with a verse, where she speaks of a lover who has her heart, but has flaws that she’s willing to accept. Caleb takes over the hook on this record, which he does an astounding job with, fulfilling the vibe that was expected for the record. The video shows all of the group members in their element, being amongst each other showing their vivacious personalities.
Together, they’ve released two full projects, Pulp and Smudge. Pulp seems to be their most notable project as of right now, with Today’s Tomorrow being their most streamed song on Spotify, boasting over 87k plays on Spotify. Their latest record Smudge felt most like an album to Caleb. With this record, Caleb felt like he needed to grow to be the best he could be artistically. To Lamuse, this album felt like a comeback after the deterrence of the pandemic. Bert felt that the pandemic hindered them from shooting videos. As a collective, the group seemed to agree on Glory being their favorite track on the album.
With nearly 5k followers on Instagram, The Bare Max seems to be putting in the work needed to achieve success in the music industry. Each member comes from humble beginnings that push them to want to achieve more than expected. Outside of the music, Caleb creates art pieces, Lamuse used to play soccer and took part in spoken word, Bert and Glen met each other during Bert’s freshman year of college. Glen has been making music for the longest time in the group. All in all, there is a passion that this group has for the music that they make and it can be heard through their records, especially in their personal track Glory. They have the personality, charisma, and intelligence to make it far in the music industry.