Remedy For Paranoia is a Dallas different hip-hop collective.
Kathy Tran / courtesy of the artist
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Kathy Tran / courtesy of the artist
At present, NPR Music crowns Remedy For Paranoia because the winner of the twelfth annual Tiny Desk Contest. Fronted by Dallas-based rapper and music trainer Cameron McCloud, Remedy For Paranoia is the choice hip-hop undertaking of McCloud and producers Tomahawk Jonez and Jay Analog. Their profitable tune, “No Brainer,” received over the judges with its witty lyricism and robust, inventive imaginative and prescient.
Celia Gregory, a choose from WNXP, NPR’s music station in Nashville, says that the mixture of a locked-in band and star emcee was the “it-factor” for her: “It is the rhymes and the rizz for me, but additionally the general drive of the tune and the horns.”
NPR Music host Robin Hilton was additionally struck by McCloud’s magnetism: “He is a next-level performer who writes the type of songs that get caught in your head and will not let go,” he says. “An ideal mixture of catharsis, humor and humanity.”
KUTX host Alex Marrero in Austin, and artist Madison McFerrin agree that “No Brainer” is not like any of the greater than 6,000 different entries they noticed. McFerrin calls the tune “infectious, contemporary and distinctly theirs” and Marrero says “when this popped up, I instantly felt one thing completely different.”
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McCloud’s journey with the Contest goes again to 2023, when he first submitted his tune “Unbothered.” Since then, he is surprised the judges with standout entries which have made their annual Prime Shelf collection, which options the most effective entries, yearly.
In his first entry, McCloud shared that he had been recognized with bipolar dysfunction and paranoid schizophrenia. “I discovered that making music was far more useful than any treatment they put me on,” he mentioned. “And the principle cause why we do that is so that each time we step on stage or are available in contact with anybody, they really feel 10x extra assured than they did earlier than.”
That sentiment spoke to evaluate Alynda Segarra, a singer who performs as Hurray for the Riff Raff, once they featured Remedy For Paranoia’s third entry, “The Artshow,” on Prime Shelf in 2025. “The title is so genius,” mentioned Segarra. “He is saying that that is my treatment, that is my therapeutic device and this music and artwork helps me get by way of one thing — there’s such vulnerability with this presence.”
After Remedy For Paranoia did not win in 2023, McCloud says that he studied previous winners’ entries to raised perceive what goes right into a profitable tune. And final 12 months, McCloud dedicated to his craft by spending on daily basis of 2025 writing a brand new rap verse, most of which went into the lyrics of “No Brainer.”
For NPR Music host Bobby Carter, who says Remedy For Paranoia is destined to be a drive within the music trade, this win was a very long time coming: “For 4 years, Cameron and the crew have wowed us with creativity and flexibility and I can not wait to see what they carry to the Tiny Desk!”
Quickly, Remedy For Paranoia will play their very own Tiny Desk live performance in Washington, D.C., after which embark on a nationwide tour. You possibly can hear from McCloud himself on All Issues Thought of later right this moment, and get tickets to the Tiny Desk Contest On The Street tour on the Contest web site.
