This pair of rappers strike subversive into the cerebral – mad yet mindful, dark but not depressing.
If “Rap is dead,” as Killer Mike rhymed ten years back on his proper debut, then perhaps an Emcee’s best course of action to resurrect (/re-energize) its listeners is an amped incitement (his latest album has a visceral addendum to “Fuck the Police” via “Don’t Die”) and impassioned indictment (there’s also a dark, dirgey rap-railing against Ronald Wilson Reagan repudiating the Gipper for domestic terrors wrought in wake of his War on Drugs).
This formidable rap-power-pairing sent shockwaves through the hip-hop world last month with closely-timed dual drops of their respective albums, both of which affect a declarative pugnacity, a lyrical clenched fist, staking shelter against a new kind of hard rain-fallin’ – like raw, caustic, f-bomb-dropping folk-heroes, bolstered by a staggering production of dazzling dark synth dashes, grimaced bass grooves, gnarly guitars and a hail of pugilistic percussion.
In the worlds of “R.A.P. Music” and “Cancer 4 Cure,” one feels to be ever on-guard, not so much in a paranoid way (though those low moaning synth storms, gristly gargled bass booms and edgy clattered beats paint effective post-apocalyptic evocations) but more so in a wired, wits-about-you way. Dark drones and brooding beats predominate much of both rappers ferocious, yet poignant wake-up-calls, but it’s not to keep you peering over your shoulder. It’s more to keep your eyes (and ears) open. Maybe it’s cynical, maybe it’s pissed-off, but maybe, also, it’s emboldening –in a good way. Do worry.
“What my people need and the opposite of bull-shit,” Killer Mike raps on his album’s closing title-track, while his close collaborative ally, producer and Def-Jux founder El-P exclaims, “No more lies…/ Look at me / I’m on to you.” Look. That’s part of it, just look, this is toughened, thought-provoking rap, but if it’s anti-anything (and they’re both anti-lots of things, often: the government), it’s especially anti-escapism. Not your poppy fluff, for sure.
Be mad, yes (that first R. in Killer Mike’s title stands for “Rebellious”) as much as be mindful – as “R.A.P.”’s “Anywhere But Here” slows things down from the shoulder-shunt catharsis and is a quieter meditation, cruising through Harlem, “you ask what happens to a dream deferred / Langston, well it kills itself….” then, bereaving over the chorus “There are too many ghosts in this town.”
Their protest-tinged agendas don’t drown-out the dazzling production, though. Both albums, instrumental/sample-wise, are atmospheric dynamos, churning fibrous fuzz and cardio-kicked beats. That’s the thing – engaging yet enraging.
El-P / Killer Mike will perform on July 8 at the Blind Pig with Mr. Motherfuckin Exquire and Despot. All Ages are welcome. Tickets are $20. Doors open at 8 p.m.
