Thundercat

Thundercat, born Stephen Bruner in 1984, emerged from Los Angeles as bass virtuoso and genre alchemist, fusing jazz fusion, funk, electronic music and hip hop into something simultaneously cosmic and confessional. Raised in a musical family, he toured with Suicidal Tendencies before collaborating extensively with Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar, playing bass on To Pimp a Butterfly. His own albums, The Golden Age of Apocalypse (2011), Apocalypse (2013) and the Grammy-winning Drunk (2017), showcase his six-string bass acrobatics and falsetto vocals exploring loneliness, heartbreak and existential drift through anime references and absurdist humour. It Is What It Is (2020) further cemented his reputation, addressing grief and modern disconnection with characteristic vulnerability. His technical command rivals Jaco Pastorius yet his sensibility belongs to internet culture's ironic intimacy. Thundercat soundtracks millennial ennui with Herbie Hancock's harmonic sophistication and DragonBall Z's technicolour escapism, transforming virtuosity into emotional cartography. He remains modern jazz's most prominent bridge between Brainfeeder's experimental electronic community and mainstream hip hop's progressive wing.