December 2019 – Extraordinary Nobodies

The Rewind – November 2019

The Rewind

I said in my last piece that I no longer want to write reviews, but I do still want to speak on some albums that came out in November 2019, a month I felt was fairly stacked. So instead, I wrote relatively quick recaps of them and stuffed everything together. No quantifying grades or ratings – just scattered thoughts with a varying amount of relevance to the project at hand.

MSM2 highlyrecommended

Daniel Son & Futurewave – Moonshine Mix 2 [Brown Bag Money]

Moonshine Mix 2 is the second record that Daniel Son & Futurewave have dropped this year, coming after this summer’s Yenaldooshi. Yenaldooshi was a bit different from what you’d expect from these guys, though it was still another strong addition to an essentially flawless run of collaborative albums. It had eerier production and excessively aggressive vocals, even compared to Daniel’s already confrontational delivery. With that said, Moonshine Mix 2 sees Daniel Son & Futurewave going straight back to basics.

The first tape was produced by Crate Divizion’s Vic Grimes and Phyba Optikz, both of whom are vastly different from Futurewave stylistically. I wasn’t sure what his approach would be, but I was sure he’d deliver (spoiler alert: he did). To me, it sounds like he went for samples that were reminiscent of the original but flipped them in his own way to make them feel like beats you might hear on his previous albums with Daniel Son. It was a really clever way to find a middle ground between staying faithful to the first tape while also giving us trademark Futurewave.

I really don’t know what to say about Daniel Son that we haven’t said a thousand times before. There’s a reason why he’s one of our favorite rappers out right now. On most of this album he supplies us with more of what put him there for us. However, at some points, Daniel plays with his flow in really interesting ways that I don’t think I’ve heard him try before. On “Don’t Spill” he hits us with a double time flow out of nowhere, and on “It’s Facts” he kind of reminds me of Benny on “5 to 50”. Not only does it sound great, I appreciate hearing him take risks like this in an era where people find their comfort zones and bury their feet there.

Just like in 2018, Daniel Son & Futurewave gave us an album that sits far above most of the competition. These guys are on a hot streak that I honestly don’t see ending anytime soon.

oneofthebest highlyrecommended

Gang Starr – One Of The Best Yet [Gang Starr Enterprises]

I don’t like posthumous music. More often than not, it comes off as a cash-grab by a label or affiliate rather than an attempt at paying tribute to a fallen artist. I can honestly count the number of tasteful posthumous albums that I’ve heard on one hand. Fortunately, this is one of them.

To be fair, this isn’t entirely posthumous. Half of the group is still here, which is directly the reason why it sounds so good. It’s easy to tell that Premier put everything he had into this album. It felt like his number one priority was creating something that Guru would approve of. You can feel the love and sorrow that Premo experienced while making this album just wash over you through the production. The sage burning rituals, keeping Guru’s ashes in the studio with him, putting Guru’s son on an interlude…it all comes through in the music to make for a very touching listening experience. Guru sounds so alive on these songs – it almost makes you forget that he’s no longer here.

I give Premo endless respect for the way he handled this album. He made it feel like Guru was genuinely right there with him. I don’t think I can give any higher praise than that when it comes to a posthumous release.

wwcd

highlyrecommended

Griselda – WWCD [Griselda Records/Shady Records/Interscope Records]

This was my most anticipated album for fourth quarter 2019. I’ll admit I’ve been nervous – I didn’t want to see these guys fumble this deal. A lot of things could have gone wrong.

Fortunately, they ended up giving me EXACTLY what I’ve wanted for the last two and a half years. More, even. WWCD gave me the feeling I had when I heard FLYGOD and Reject 2 for the first time, shortly after they signed to Shady. It was that same sense of mystique and excitement about something special hitting hip hop in the face. There’s no bells or whistles on this record – and that’s the beauty of it. It was signature GxFR grimey and spooky boom bap through and through. Setting aside the quality of the music, the fact that they managed to release an album with this sound, subject matter, and even artwork through a major label with NO concessions is historic.

Daringer’s production, which is what the GxFR sound has been built on from the beginning, is usually fairly simple and almost entirely loop-driven. That isn’t always great if the loop gets grating or monotonous, which is a problem I’ve had with his production on occasion. For that reason, bringing Beat Butcha on board was honestly the best thing they could have done. To my understanding, he supplied Daringer with music to loop, which meant they could be more precise with how the beats sounded while also avoiding sample clearance issues. The results were beautiful; this had some of the best beats I’ve ever heard on a Griselda Records release.

Benny and Conway are two of the best rappers alive today. Indisputably. So of course, the rapping was excellent throughout this album. I have never once heard Benny come with a verse anything short of great, and that doesn’t change here. Conway, on the other hand, releases mixtape after mixtape, all seemingly recorded over the span of a day or two. As a result, at times he can sound complacent to me. Mind you, a complacent Conway will still tear you to shreds on a track. It looks to me like dropping an official album through a major label woke him up though, because this is potentially the best I’ve personally ever heard him. Also, I really wasn’t expecting to hear Westside Gunn rap the way he did here. To me, he’s always been more style over skill – which isn’t a bad thing at all. He really showed out here, though. His flows were tight and he sounded more dialed in than I’m used to, and I loved it.

I have no hesitation in putting this up there as one of my absolute favorite Griselda Records AND Shady Records releases. It might look like I’m overselling it, but honestly, I don’t give a fuck. This was more than worth the wait and I’m still excited about it.

hwh

recommended

Westside Gunn – Hitler Wears Hermes VII [Griselda Records]

As is tradition, Westside Gunn released a new installment to his Hitler Wears Hermes mixtape series around Halloween. This is his second solo release of 2019, coming only a few months after FLYGOD Is An Awesome GOD. Even though this is a mixtape, it’s more developed than FIAAG, which felt like it was somewhere between an album and an EP.

Usually, the Hitler Wears Hermes tapes are Gunn’s grimiest and filthiest projects, but this tape went for a smoother, jazzier, more soulful sound. He sounds more at home on these beats than did through most of his last album, which went in a weirder and artsier direction. It seems like this mixtape was more about creating a vibe rather than hard-hitting standout tracks. Half of the songs play like interludes; they’re a minute and some change in length and are mainly driven by the instrumentals, a few repeated lines, and Gunn’s signature ad-libs. That’s not to say there aren’t a fair amount of more developed tracks here, but outside of just a handful, that’s mainly relegated to the tracks with features on them. With that in mind, what this tape has going for it is that the vibe created is really enjoyable to listen to. Hitler Wears Hermes is easily one of the better mixtape series of recent years, and this only works to strengthen that position.

ghettocowby highlyrecommended

Yelawolf – Ghetto Cowboy [Slumerican Records]

This record is Yelawolf’s first independent offering, coming less than a year after fulfilling his contract with Shady/Interscope. Apparently he had this album ready for a while, but he decided to instead give Shady an album similar to what got him signed. He re-worked his final major label release into the impressive Trunk Muzik 3 – a tasteful choice in my opinion.

Trunk Muzik 3 came off like a momentary artistic deviation for the sake of sentiment, but Ghetto Cowboy seems more like the logical next step after 2017’s Trial By Fire. This is both a progression from and improvement upon that sound. At times I’ve felt like Yela’s country rap stuff can lean a little too hard into the country side of things, but this album feels incredibly hip hop for how much country/folk influence it has. It’s mainly thanks to the production; while the instruments used sound like what you would hear in country-oriented music, the arrangement and drum patterns make it feel more hip hop than a lot of his other genre-bending work (which can feel more like someone rapping over a country music backing). The end result is a really interesting wild-west outlaw rap album. Ghetto Cowboy isn’t necessarily Yelawolf’s best record (I think Love Story holds that title, despite what I’ve said), but it’s easily his best attempt at blending genres to date.

That about wraps this up…Or it did, originally. Bonus round!

marcielago highlyrecommended

Roc Marciano – Marcielago [Marci Enterprises]

Yeah, this came out at the top of December. Fuck it.

At this point in Roc Marciano’s career, he has every reason in the world to get complacent. Rather than coast on his legacy, though, he seems like he’s hungry to remind everybody who the mastermind is behind essentially the entire style that underground east coast hip hop artists have been running with for the last few years.

There are a few staples of a Roc Marci album that you’re gonna find here. Pimp talk? Minimalistic production? Slick, laid back delivery? All present. And that’s about all that’s familiar. It feels like Marci is taking elements of his established formula and applying them to sounds he hasn’t played with before. The production on this album is actually portrayed well by the cover art. It sounds like the backing to a crime drama: chaotic and violent at times, luxurious and indulgent at others. He’s always been a cinematic artist, but rather than his typical approach of soundtracking the biopic of a street legend, he took a turn in the “Miami Vice” direction. Granted, he experimented on RR2 and Behold A Dark Horse too. That said, it feels like with each passing album it’s gotten easier for him to broaden his horizons. I can’t say whether this one is better than BADH, my favorite Marci project from last year, just yet. It definitely sounds like he’s more comfortable experimenting than ever, though.

These days, I have a hard time describing Marci’s music because of where he’s been taking it. His primary focus isn’t really on the cold, unflinching soul sample-driven boom bap that he came into prominence with anymore…and I think that’s great. He’s proving that he’s not only talented and influential, but a once-in-a-lifetime hip hop artist. People are still imitating the style he popularized years ago, and less effectively at that. Meanwhile, he’s off finding ways to innovate even further. Roc Marciano is one of the greatest of all time.

Stop

I know I didn’t cover every release last month. Some didn’t move me to speak on them (which doesn’t necessarily mean I think they’re bad), and I haven’t listened to others yet. These just happened to inspire me to write, and I wanted to extend a bit of love towards them. I’m looking to do this semi-regularly, so I’ll try to be back with another one of these in a month or two.

Album Review: Daniel Son & Futurewave – Moonshine Mix 2

by Dustin

MSM2 highlyrecommended

Since dropping Moonshine Mix with Crate Divizion a little over two years ago, a lot has happened in Daniel Son’s fast moving career. Having teamed up with the insane production talent Futurewave the pair went on an unbelievable run of three albums, putting rap on notice that the North was a force to be reckoned with. Each record pushed their own limits, budding a reputation as one of the most reliable and dynamic acts in the scene. Though Futurewave didn’t spearhead the instrumentation of the original, their fourth offering was set to be Moonshine Mix 2, a record that barely afforded fans enough time to digest Yenaldooshi from earlier this year before making itself hard to ignore. Few artists have the drive to complete four unforgettable albums in such a short span of time, but if anyone were to do it, it was going to be Daniel Son and Futurewave.

And of course, they did.

Daniel Son has pushed himself to new heights with every release, and Moonshine Mix 2 was no exception to that trend. As one should come to expect, his confidence and attitude behind the mic built up a massive presence leaving no second of any verse wasted. From a pure engagement standpoint, Daniel Son delivered one of the boldest emcee performances of the year with his blunt and assertive style laying down bar after bar of filthy — realistically morbid and cold — life observations. As if that wasn’t quite immense enough, the way he approached flows and rhyme patterns on Moonshine Mix 2 felt significantly more unpredictable than in the past; moreover, it was genuinely exciting to have that uncertainty and built up anticipation between tracks. It’s not like he changed his style fundamentally either, he’s simply refined what he does best to the point of it being jaw-dropping. For an underground hip-hop scene in Canada that has been shaky at times, an artist with the hunger and bite of Daniel Son has continued to be a huge refresher. While it’s been evident for a while that he had something special, this album could be seen as the moment that his track record as a rapper went from impressive to nearly untouchable.

Of course for every leap forward Daniel Son made on Moonshine Mix 2, Futurewave was right alongside with absolutely spectacular instrumentals. Among his peers, Futurewave is one of a small handful of producers that seem to be making an effort to do something inventive and involved with the art of sampling. The beats here felt inspired by the sound of the original Moonshine Mix tape, but they definitely had his signature offkilterness and punch. His sample selection was super varied, yet it flowed perfectly. For example the gritty and oddly disorienting “Pray 4 Me” led into the much more relaxing “Kip Raines,” and even though they couldn’t have been more different, their distinct Futurewave flair made them work together. He’s shown time and time again that he’s one of the best in the business at overseeing full album production, and Moonshine Mix 2 was reflective of that. It’s records like this that people learning to produce should take the time to study, because the way that Futurewave assembles instrumentals is so far beyond the average. He didn’t just take the easy route of basic loops. His production built and fell back in ways that complimented and emphasized everything Daniel Son brought to the table, but left him ample room to let his enormous personality breathe. It was all tied together in such a pleasing way, complete from front to back.

It’s not often that a sequel outdoes its predecessor, but it didn’t come as a surprise that this one did (and the first Moonshine Mix wasn’t a slouch in its own right). These two artists are constantly setting the bar for quality in the underground hip-hop scene. Whether it be Pressure Cooker, Physics of Filth (with the talented Asun Eastwood), Yenaldooshi, or Moonshine Mix 2, Daniel Son and Futurewave have been able to do no wrong. This was a great release, and what’s more encouraging is that they’ve shown no signs of taking the foot off the gas. Much like Roc Marciano, Ka, or the collective of Griselda, there are no direct comparables to what those around Brown Bag have been able to establish as their sound. Moonshine Mix 2, as with their previous releases, stood firm as something unique to itself and special. In the modern hip-hop environment of abundant rapidly available music, being able to stand out based on individuality and pure quality is rare. Not only did they manage to achieve that, but they made it look casual. For those who enjoy grimy, nasty and raw street rap, look no further: this album could very well end up being your project of the year, no doubt.

My Thoughts on Current Music Discourse

by Rajin

While Dustin writing again after being pretty silent for nearly the entire year thus far is a big deal, I’ve had such frequent breaks from writing that I’m not even sure if this one was the longest. Thankfully, this time around it wasn’t due to writer’s block or mental burnout; essentially everything Dustin covered in his piece addressing why he stopped writing applies to me too.

There is something else that’s tangentially related to what Dustin spoke about in his reintroduction piece though. During the site’s hiatus, I spent more of my time observing than commenting. In doing so, I’ve come to really see how horrible some people can be when they speak on certain artists or music that they personally dislike. It’s something I was always aware of, of course, but it’s been driven home to me just how widespread this sort of attitude has been recently. Dustin said something in his article that stuck with me, but for reasons different than what I believe he had intended when saying it.

The people you’re talking to behind the monitor are people too.

In this age of constant accessibility to music and artists through social media, artists have become circus animals. When the routine isn’t what they want it to be, the audience throws peanuts because they think it’s funny. This isn’t a new or original observation, but everything is treated like either unequivocal fire or trash. No nuance, no middle ground. It’s all just perpetuated by lazy hip hop publications on social media, asking fans to drop a shit emoji or a fire emoji in the comments, reply with a .gif of how they feel about something, or whatever else to fish for engagement in the most shallow of ways. And when it comes to the fans, when you can quantify “how right” your opinion is through likes and retweets, it gets really easy to start spouting aggressive, intentionally contrarian, half-baked thoughts because of people mindlessly scrolling and interacting with it. These stupid hive-mind opinions start to spread, artists become easy punching bags, and a lot of the time, music gets reduced to a joke in certain circles. It’s a counterproductive practice, because there are people who put their whole selves into the music, as well as listeners who genuinely resonate with it on a personal level.

It’s become so easy for people to voice whatever opinions they’d like to and not have to worry about the consequences behind their words. Due to the fact that nobody really needs to see anyone else face-to-face in order to instantly communicate with them, a lack of respect has developed over the years that – while not exclusive to hip hop’s artists and audience – pervades the social dynamics between people who engage with music and people who make it. You don’t need to really think about what you’re saying, all you do is send a tweet out to virtual space and go about your day.

I don’t think there very many fans who really treat music like it’s art anymore. Music has been something so accessible for so long now. Not to sound like an out-of-touch old man, but kids are growing up in an era where the idea of spending money on music is an entirely alien concept. And why wouldn’t it be? Why on earth would someone spend money on something they can get for free? Adults who grew up buying music don’t question it so why on earth would an average teenager, for whom streaming is all they know, question it too?

But it’s still a problem, at least in my view. There’s no way that this hasn’t shifted the way music is thought about. I’ve seen somebody actually criticize somebody else for buying vinyl LPs of a few albums that they considered bad – it didn’t even seem to occur to this person that the album was a product that was meant to be purchased. Setting aside how silly it is to criticize a stranger over the internet about how he spends his money, this person couldn’t fathom the idea of financially compensating an artist for the product that was consumed just because it was perceived as “bad”. As though buying a bad album is any different from buying a bad video game or paying to see a bad movie in theaters…yet nobody would bat an eye at somebody doing the latter two.

The change in perception of music from art that’s meant to be paid for to essentially an entitlement is also part of what I believe has fueled the treatment of artists lately. The human element of an artist creating something is lost on people. I think that’s what makes it easier to trash something with no regard for the language being used. The degrees of separation that have arisen with the way music consumption has developed as well as the personal disconnect through social media honestly makes it understandable why things happen the way they do nowadays. Of course, trashing music isn’t a new phenomenon; there have always been assholes out there who are either trying to be funny or are insecure elitist fools who think they need to tear someone or something else down to look good. But at the end of the day, it’s just something that I’ve noticed more of, and it’s been bothering me.

I know it looks like all I’m doing is yelling “SOCIAL MEDIA BAD” in this piece so far, but please don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to chastise anyone or preach. I’m certainly not guilt-free. On sites that I used to visit, I would be just as bad as the people I’m talking about right now. To this day, I can still be pretty harsh against my better judgement. I just try to keep it confined to private conversation rather than public trashing. Even so, I’m sure someone could dig up pretty disrespectful tweets that directly contradict what I’m saying now. So I get it. It’s just something that I feel is worth keeping in mind when discussing art. I’m not saying I want to see people pretending they like something when they don’t. Negative feedback to sub-par music is essential for an artist to grow. Sometimes an album is going to miss the mark. It happens. Artists are people, and people fuck up, no matter their profession. But musical discourse has gone from fairly thoughtful to almost entirely reactionary. It’s disrespectful to artists and frankly pretty boring to engage in as a fan. There are so few people whose opinions I respect or care to hear at this point in time and it sucks.

However, none of this is as egregious as what a lot of “professional” music journalists do. I have very little, if any, respect for the vast majority of them. I want to make something very clear though: I’m speaking mainly about writers at big publications like habitual offenders XXL or more recently The Source, and not necessarily people at smaller blogs (at least not the ones who value thoughtful writing over click-baiting everything the fuck out). Publications without integrity. Writers who will happily trash an artist in reviews that spend more time talking about the artist’s age, past hits, problematic behavior, and promotional buildup than they do the actual music. They drag the artists through the mud in reviews, but they’ll never shut up about them. They’ll cover every move they make, every tweet they send out, every affiliate who gets shot or locked up. They’ll expect these artists to sit for interviews…and then they’ll go right back and write another lazy review with no effort made at showing respect to the person who has supplied them with exposure and ad revenue or his/her creative process. I mean, I suppose it makes sense. People are going to click on the review regardless, so why bother putting effort into it if you’re getting paid either way, right? Plus, if you have a few snappy sentences insulting the artist, you can always rely on somebody to screenshot it and post it on Twitter for extra clicks!

None of this is a secret. It’s fucking disgusting. These writers, being the parasitic scum they are, don’t even hide how obvious it is. It’s getting worse as time goes on. It’s really not that hard to give an album a respectful and thoughtful critical write-up while without turning it into a personal attack, but that causes less of a reaction so that’s obviously out of the question.

On that note, I do want to say that I personally don’t feel comfortable writing reviews anymore. My writer’s block last year was directly due to the fact that I had shifted my focus to writing reviews. The site as a whole had trended in that direction in general, and I struggled to write anything that I felt truly did the albums I was reviewing justice. I don’t have the skill required to break an album into its components, speak about each, then bring it all back together to speak about it holistically. And giving an album a numerical grade seems like it’s very reductionist. Doing so works as a shortcut to people who don’t want to actually read about the album, but rather look for reviewers whose opinions validate their own. I don’t find reviews fun, and at the end of the day I only started posting here because I thought it was fun to talk about music. I am proud of my last couple of reviews, but they were exhausting and I still feel like I could have and should have gone further with them. So I’m probably done with that for the most part.

I understand that this may come off as needlessly bitter or preachy. But it bothers me how carelessly hip hop gets handled by music media, just because it runs pop culture and is therefore the easiest genre to cover. I’m tired of seeing kids who don’t understand or care about rap music or hip hop culture profiting off of something they don’t know and will never take the time to learn about. And while I’m not getting paid to do this, I know that to a lot of readers, I’m not any more qualified to talk than they are. The thing is, I know that’s not inaccurate. I’m not a voice that can speak on behalf of hip hop. I can’t dictate what hip hop should or shouldn’t be. I’m not a tastemaker, I’m not a gatekeeper. I’m a nerd who grew up fascinated with hip hop culture and rap music. I’m an outsider looking in. I write because hip hop has shaped so much about me, from my worldview to my sense of humor and beyond, and I would like to pay tribute to that. And that’s why it grates on my nerves so much to see people treat hip hop and rappers like they’re a commodity for anybody to get in on. Hip hop deserves respect and it’s about time the people who exploit it for a paycheck realize that, and do better.