2994 is the first band from the future. According to the group’s tumblr page, they traveled back in time from the year 2994, wanted to live in 2004, but got stuck in 2015. Now, they need our help. 2994 is composed of three rappers—Temet Nosce, Shyboy and Catullus++. Only two of the band’s three members are people—Catullus++ is a Toshiba laptop.
This is all a little outlandish, but not so far fetched for internet culture these days. Internet artists such as Nok from the Future and Blank Banshee are hiding their faces behind metallic masks and riding on catch phrases like “I quit real life.” All things considered, 2994 isn’t making headlines with its quirk, especially considering the band has just one song and it’s not on Souncloud. This is unfortunate, because 2994’s one song is really, really good.
The band’s lone track, cryptically titled “CTCAR”, has just over 1,000 views on YouTube. Its music video is a cyber-collage of crumbling colisea, AIM windows and Google Image results for the phrase “concept car,” over which Temet Nosce and Shyboy joyride through the city on a golf cart. While the video draws from the Yung Lean and Sadboys aesthetic (see Yung Lean’s “Hurt” music video), 2994’s sound taps into something new and remarkably poignant. On “CTCAR”, Temet and Shyboy rap over a brittle trap beat with celestial synth chords. While the beat sounds like it was made on Fruity Loops, Temet and Shyboy are a different story—their voices are autotuned to the point of sounding alien, making it hard to make out most of what they’re saying. It doesn’t matter, though—their grotesque voices drip with the sorrow of two acid-drenched humanoid souls, and through the quasi-incoherence they say what words can’t. When the group’s words can be deciphered, they’re puzzling—take Shyboy’s line “I don’t smoke / I don’t fuck / I don’t drunk / I don’t move”—and they surely hurt.
To listen to “CTCAR,” look up “2994 band” on YouTube.
Howard is a member of the class of 2017.
