How To Build A Relationship
Flume feat. JPEGMAFIA
By Natalie Silver
If you google “how to build a relationship,” you’ll see a list of three instructions:
1) Build a foundation of appreciation and respect.
2) Explore each other’s interests.
3) Establish a pattern of apologizing.
If you type “how to build a relationship” into Spotify, you’ll receive different instructions via Flume and rapper JPEGMAFIA, such as
“Catch me in a cold mood
Not cool, I'm not nice, I'm not you
There's no friends, no feels, this kid's stu'”
Okay, so different messages. Now it’s up to you to pick your poison.
“How to Build a Relationship” is off of Flume’s 2019 mixtape “Hi This Is Flume’ and is one of the artist’s most popular—and hardest—tracks, for which he can thank rapper JPEGMAFIA (A.K.A. Buttermilk Jesus, A.K.A. DJ Half-Court Violation, A.K.A. Lil' World Cup). This song is definitely the first, and only, time Flume has been referred to as “my n---a,” so I can see why he would be down for this epic collab.
The track is short, intense and abrasive. JPEGMAFIA spits scattered, angry lines over Flume’s track, who weaves the rapper’s words into a desperate narrative, arming them with raw intensity and brilliantly creating an imminent crescendo into oblivion.
The track ends with laughs and the line, “Don't, don't, don't call me unless I gave you my number...That's, that's, that's how relationships built.”
This is what I propose: You tap into this shit on Coachella Friday, and I’ll stay at home and get this line tattooed on my forehead. See ya on the flip side.