Dopehead by Hak Baker, regrettably real.

Hak Baker, taken from the music video for Dopehead. Source: promonews.tv

Dopehead by Hak Baker (prod. by Ali Bla Bla) is a folk song, focusing on the lives of the Londoners we blissfully ignore. Those in the midst of addiction, at the mercy of the needle and foil, yet they must toil daily to get their fix. “Addiction is for the rich”, Hak says; and true it is.

Hak Baker is an independent folk artist from the Isle of Dogs in East London, with a strong Cockney accent. His discography suggests his influences include Rock, Punk Rock, Reggae, and Ska. Through such, Hak has managed to formulate a sound unique to him, and his story. He calls it G-Folk, and it is clear to me of Hak’s uniqueness in the industry of Black British music where there is simply no one like him.

Dopehead is both gentle and hard-hitting. Gentle in its soft acoustic approach akin to enticing sympathy from the listener, and hard-hitting through lyrics that narrate the debilitating nature of addiction and substance abuse. The music video, shot by photographer and filmmaker Will Scott-Robson, follows the lives of a few who find themselves in that cycle of torment. Dopehead encapsulates this perfectly, and the acoustic guitar dominant throughout that facilitates a tale of woe.

Hak is astutely aware of urban struggle, and his songs convey this. But Dopehead is a raw depiction of the gruesome existence of some. Vocals raspy in nature are typical of the genre, which intertwines with acoustics that projects the gritty conditions of addiction for what it is, plucking at the hearts of many. Between verses, Hak holds notes before coming to an abrupt stop as if to allow the dust the settle and allow the listener to contemplate for a moment the lives of those portrayed. We also gain the perspective of those suffering from addiction, their human story. A chance for us to truly understand their lives.

“How is she coping, the streets are so cold”, continually reverberates in a harmonical sense — there is nothing to do but empathise, in the comfort of your own home with sickening irony. Dopehead is beautiful, rich in quality and sadly very real. 2020 promises so much for Hak Baker, who debuted at Glastonbury in 2019. I only expect one trajectory which is up, exponentially.

More by Hak Baker can be found on Soundcloud, Spotify and Apple Music where you can truly explore the sound of G-Folk.

Screenshot from the music video for Dopehead — Hak Baker. Source: YouTube