CURLY HEAD, the sophomore album from OLDBOY RHYMES (produced by ARIANO) drops August 22, 2025 everywhere you listen to music!

7-Inch Record + CD pre-orders: TinyURL.com/OldBoyRhymesSFR

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From the dark tundra of Alaska to the heaving jungles of Papua, OldBoy Rhymes has experienced a lot. He's befriended billionaires, kids in "third world" slums, and people at all levels in between. OldBoy Rhymes has lived a crazy, multi-polar life, and his lyricism is drenched in the love and angst he soaked up along the way. His debut LP, 2024's The Sane Asylum, painted these experiences in broad strokes and viewed them through a widescreen lens. On Curly Head, OBR focuses his vision to take a deeper look within, and everything from the song lyrics to the album title tells his story:

"I have very curly hair, and so does my son, " OldBoy explains. "When I was a little kid in Alaska, bullies called me 'curly head.' I’ve shaved my head since I was 10 years old, which is when I moved to Jakarta. A dichotomy exists within me between the nerdy curly head and the troublemaker who’s fought his way through a lifetime of extreme experiences.

This album explores that duality, telling some of the stories I didn’t detail in my debut album The Sane Asylum — from a stabbing, to a home invasion, to my son’s medical challenges, to personally searching for and finding my wife’s biological mother in the Philippines. That curly head became a fighter in both body and spirit, which has allowed me to persevere and achieve in life, but it also built defense mechanisms that haven’t always served my mental health.

This album is dedicated to my younger self.

It’s also for my beautiful, curly-headed son and my wife, who safeguards the light in his eyes.

I dedicate Curly Head to my friend Aaron M, who knows what it’s like to fight for a childhood dream and achieve it and David J who has always taken the time to understand and support me when others didn't. David was the one who found me after the home invasion I detail in the song "Interpol."

Curly Head is produced entirely by and features vocals from Ariano, an industry veteran whose exceptional versatility has earned him unwavering respect, enduring collaborations, and coveted stage time with some of hip-hop’s most iconic figures. His impressive list of collaborators and performance partners can be found at his website, arianomusic.com. Over the past decade, Ariano has masterfully blended genres, releasing standout solo albums and numerous collaborative projects that showcase his range and creativity.