PLUGGED IN: December 2021
Your monthly dose of essential rap music listening (does NOT include the rest of the essential records of the month covered through other written content, podcast reviews and interviews, or Patreon-only content).
Raz Fresco & Dibia$e - Secret Wars
Through the rise of the home studio in music and the increasingly ubiquitous and affordable nature of quality gear, the “bedroom” DIY movement has successfully infiltrated hip-hop in recent years.
Dibia$e has been at the forefront of this wave of producers using Roland’s flagship SP-404, a handy sampling workstation that is marked by its strong utility and distinct analog warmth that it provides to samples that are processed by the machine. Dibia$e has made an imprint on the underground scene of producers with his prolific live sets, sampling experimentation, and his mastery of beat-making machines like the aforementioned 404… but on Secret Wars, he reminds us all that he can make an album of grimy hip-hop beats too.
Raz Fresco was a relative unknown to me prior to this album. But after digesting Secret Wars, his skills are undeniable. On this LP, Raz stays firm in his beliefs that society is being controlled, and is not seeing what’s really going on. He uses his sharp lyricism and impressive flow to get into strong detail about how different systems of control are winning an information war against the truth. He is unapologetic and forceful with his points, while not going over the edge to where the album feels like a giant rant.
Dibia$e’s vibrant production helped tremendously to make these strong messages palatable because this album is plainly fun musically. The beats consistently have terrific sample chops and choices, and nice drums that are sent through our speakers in Dibia$e’s trademark 8-bit style.
Secret Wars is a strong album that should serve as a great starting point to both Raz and Dibia$e’s discographies.
RMPP Preferred Cut: “Photogenic / One4Doom”
Stream on Spotify below and buy here.
pop! - The Abstraction of Squandering Thoughts
pop! is the duo of Lord Glacier on the boards and jouquin fox supplying the raps. For those who missed the 2nd Annual RMPPs (listen here), you may have missed me wax poetic about jouquin fox. Needless to say, I am becoming a huge fan of his, and was very intrigued to hear how his lyricism would sound like over outside production.
Lord Glacier provides AST with a hypnotic sample-based musical foundation that I found always kept me on my toes. Just when you think you can neatly sum up this album’s sound, Glacier adds peculiar sounds and vocal chops that switch things up. At times this album is groovy, like on the excellent “Red Sun” and “Alternative Medicine”, and other times it is tense and dramatic, like on “Guillotine!” that serves as the album’s climax in my eyes.
“Guillotine!” is truly amazing, aided by an impassioned performance from fox that feels urgent, and remarkably heavy. The repeated refrain included below, communicates so much with so little, and is strengthened by the “guillotine” chants that come in during the song in moments that make it feel even more unsettling and eerie.
“Death sentence from not crying at Mom’s wake/I didn’t cry until my Mom’s funeral'‘
- jouquin fox, “Guillotine!”
The lyricism is consistently nuanced and poetic, like on the fantastic “3D Worlds”. Another strength is found on “Momentary Lapses in Judgement”, where fox displays an impressive ability to make, otherwise mundane anecdotes, hold so much weight and meaning. It’s mesmerizing.
This album provides so much interesting nuggets of thought and self-reflection from jouquin fox, but also features a ton of pleasing aesthetic elements in the aforementioned production, as well as fox’s flow that toes the line between offbeat spoken word, and rapping in a great more traditional rhythm.
The Abstraction of Squandering Thoughts delivers an engaging musical and lyrical experience, and solidifies both jouquin fox and Lord Glacier as artists to watch in 2022.
RMPP Preferred Cut: “Guillotine!”
Stream/Buy on Bandcamp
Rahiem Supreme & ohbliv - Black Keys wit Melodies
Rahiem Supreme made a seriously strong impression on me in 2021. He had multiple entries on my top albums list from the past year (listen to the 2nd Annual RMPPs here), with no album impressing me more than Black Keys wit Melodies.
Rahiem is really an old school MC at his most fundamental essence. What I mean by that, is that he puts an emphasis on his vocal presence, which makes his particular vocal stylings perfect for a live environment that can really ‘move the crowd’. That charisma coupled with his new school wild flows makes him a real force in the hip-hop scene right now.
On Black Keys with Melodies, Rahiem leans in heavy to his Mr. Goodlookin’ fun lovin’ swag, and it absolutely works. “Midnight Club” is brilliant, with an impeccable cool to the track that grabs you immediately. “Tip Toe En2 Da Sunset” features great sung vocals from Rahiem, atop a beautiful 80s-inspired sun-soaked beat from ohbliv.
That brings us to the production, which is nothing short of amazing. These beats are bright and effortlessly groovy, which match Rahiem’s entire aura as a rapper on this album. Similarly to what ohbliv successfully did for Koncept Jack$on on their collaborative project in 2021 (listen to the full review here), ohbliv gives Rahiem some interesting and challenging production to rap over. “Hot Date” has such an old school rapid swing to it, and Rahiem beautifully floats all over that thing, making it one of the most arresting tracks on the entire project.
Black Keys wit Melodies will instantly brighten your day.
RMPP Preferred Cut: “Midnight Club”
Stream/Buy on Bandcamp
S!LENCE & Wavy Bagels - mutatis mutandis
"Having changed that which needed to be changed." This is what is included in the Bandcamp description for mutatis mutandis, an album by S!LENCE and Wavy Bagels, which explores the idea of change and growth in one’s life.
Wavy’s beats feature a consistently strong foundation in the drumming department, which drives these instrumentals and gives them all a level of punchiness. The samples that drive the musical melodies are often nicely chosen brass, such as on “Island Air”, or somewhat spacey tones like on “pistol pete” and “mango mochi”. All in all, the production sets the stage for S!LENCE’s raps to hit your ear drums loud and clear.
If I had to choose one word to describe S!LENCE’s performance on this album, it would be confident. There is a self-assuredness and clear conviction that permeates the raps throughout. This makes S!LENCE’s introspection and general perspectives feel a bit more urgent, and hard-hitting than what you may typically get from rapper’s who touch on these topics. This slight tone shift is refreshing, and differentiates S!LENCE from other rappers in this lane, who I find tend to come off more confused and timid most of the time. There is obviously nothing wrong with the latter, but it is simply more common in my experience.
No moment impressed me more than “Racoon City Blues”, which showcased Wavy and S!LENCE at their best. Wavy’s production features jangly percussion and gorgeous guitar lines that are so smooth. S!LENCE is absolutely in a zone here, delivering the most profound lines of the album that display the powerful conviction that I mentioned earlier.
“All relationships exist within compromise/life’s comprised of lows, highs, and loneliness synchronized”
- S!LENCE, “Racoon City Blues”
This was my first full-length experience with S!LENCE and Wavy Bagels, and it certainly won’t be the last!
RMPP Preferred Cut: “Racoon City Blues”
Stream/Buy on Bandcamp
Lungs & Mimz - SNOWING IN HELL
Lungs and Mimz were hard at work in 2021, creating projects that did a great job of establishing their musical identities. Mimz’s music features trademark honesty, and truly bare lyrical styling. As both a producer and rapper, Lungs cultivated a chaotic sound and a dizzying rapping style that immediately impressed and set him apart.
Together as a duo, the chemistry between the two on SNOWING IN HELL is undeniable. Mimz has always felt at home over unconventional instrumentals, and really shines atop these glitchy slices of soul and colour that LoneSword (Lungs’ producer moniker) routinely crafted. As a partner, Lungs has consistently shined when paired with another MC over the course of an entire project. That being said, what makes this particular pairing special is that Mimz does not flow similarly to Lungs. Therefore, there is a neat contrast between the two that adds a ton of dynamic energy to the record.
Since Lungs is also a standout producer, I found myself keying into Mimz the most when it came to the lyricism. Mimz was in top-form rapping with a lucidity that has never felt so sure of itself, as it does on SNOWING IN HELL. On “MALAYSIAN JET LOST”, Mimz paints a vivid string of statements that paint their worldview and where their mind-state is currently at, and it’s beautifully eloquent. Mimz has an innate ability to make you feel something without having to over-indulge, letting their concisely constructed bars and sincere vocal tone do the job all by themselves.
Lungs still makes a lyrical impact though, delivering his typically funny, witty, and clever bars with insanely impressive flows. His differing approach to rapping, both from a content and aesthetic perspective, serves to further accentuate the special qualities both MCs possess.
“Rappers sound like they just jumped out of Joe Rogan’s swollen bowels”
- Lungs, “KNOW HOW”
LOL.
As for the production handled primarily by LoneSword, those typical warps and skips in his instrumentals are present once again. “KNOW HOW” features a prime example of the high-quality loop work that is brought to the table, which feels odd yet catchy, with two great features from phiik and budding feature-killer Semiratruth. However, as he showcased on The Birth of LoneSword (read the ‘3 Keys’ piece on this album in collaboration with Lungs/LoneSword here), the overall set of sounds we get here are a bit smoother and refined, and less rough around the edges than his earlier work. The sound of this album is still minimal, but there is a beautiful musical richness in some of the samples selected, particularly on “its snowing in hell” and “MALAYSIAN JET LOST”, which shows growth in LoneSword’s production over these past couple of projects.
SNOWING IN HELL is a tremendous addition to this burgeoning movement of vibrant left-field hip-hop out of New York, which you absolutely need to tap into ASAP!
RMPP Preferred Cut: “MALAYSIAN JET LOST”
Stream/Buy on Bandcamp
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