Ryan Hemsworth handed a track steeped in old Three 6 Mafia tape grain and gritty '90s UK rave texture to Illuminati Hotties' Sarah Tudzin. Even he thought the choice was a little strange—logically, she should've gotten something closer to her own style, but instead he threw her the least "her" card in the deck. That decision ended up encapsulating the whole collaborative logic behind his new album *Numbskull*.
This marks the Canadian producer's first full-length album since 2018's *Elsewhere*, and his debut release under Topshelf Records, arriving October 21. The lead single "One Step" is out now, blending Southern rap, UK hardcore, and punk. Hemsworth says the track started from an old Three 6 Mafia tape, layered with some rough '90s UK rave texture: "I figured this would probably only work with rappers on it."
Instead, he reached out to Tudzin—a friend he'd originally filed under "should get her own kind of song"—and she said yes without hesitation. Hemsworth says that's when he realized the collaborative approach behind *Numbskull* basically boiled down to "only give people the weird card."
