PLUGGED IN: January 2022
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).
Teddy Faley - Teddy Brown Brown
Baltimore-native Teddy Faley’s latest album is a dense brick of evocative lyricism and tough complementary production. Immediate in its impact, with depth that keeps you coming back for more.
“Bad News” is one of many songs off of this record that showcase how tremendous of a storyteller Teddy is. He has an innate ability to bare his soul with striking transparency, understanding the key details to include in his verses, in order to paint as vivid a picture as possible.
“A Song About Cigarettes But It’s About My Dead Mom Too” is a mouthful of a title, and honestly speaks for itself because it is truly exactly as it sounds. Teddy’s dark satire blends with a powerful introspection that was executed in such an impeccable way. This is one of the most creative songs I’ve heard all year. Teddy’s balance of honesty and self-deprecation is a very charming aspect of his music, which shines through on “Meddlin’ Kids”, where he raps:
“You ain’t on my level, and my level ain’t that great/So how’s it feel to behind the guy behind in last place”
- Teddy Faley, “Meddlin’ Kids”
This song is also a good representation of what we get musically on Teddy Brown Brown. The sonic blueprint of this album is built off of hard drums and eerie atmospheric synth touches that all aim to accentuate what Teddy is doing lyrically, keeping the spotlight firmly on the album’s main focal point. Produced primarily by ALXNDRBRWN and Tom Delay Beats, these instrumentals are gritty and set the tone for the heavy in-your-face nature of Teddy’s performance very well.
“Deer Friends” ends this album off on a high note, showcasing the sincerity and emotional depth that defines Teddy Brown Brown. If you are like me, and have not previously heard of Teddy Faley before giving this LP a spin, I can confidently say that this is a great introduction to his work.
RMPP Preferred Cut: “A Song About Cigarettes But It’s About My Dead Mom Too”
Stream/Buy on Bandcamp
FNKPMPN - Subatomic
Del the Funky Homosapien and Kool Keith have established themselves as two of rap’s most prolific oddballs. They have now joined forces as FNKPMPN. This was a peculiar and unexpected combination to see take place, but upon listening to this album… their chemistry made perfect sense.
What sort of threw me for a loop with this album is that save for the intro, Kool Keith only raps once and handles the production front-to-back. Although, I would’ve still preferred to have Keith rapping often on this LP, I found his production to be quite impressive. His production has certainly been strange in the past, however, the beats on Subatomic were so much more jagged and unapologetically out there than I expected. The sounds Keith works with utilize odd sources for percussion, deep 808s and bass, with abrasive industrial synths that give the album a futuristic feeling.
Del’s rapping as well was different too, serving as another curveball from this album. On Subatomic, Del is less zany in his vocal inflections, and is more even-keel and deliberate in his flow. At first, I did think his performance felt a bit empty, since I was not used to him rapping like a more normal rapper, for a lack of a better word. Over time though, I did grown to like how Del approached his raps, especially since his slower flow allowed him to rap with more emphasis and conviction than we usually get from Del. This was particularly key, since his verses consistently carved its own pocket out amidst this loud production.
Subatomic is an entertaining album that sees its two main contributors make a concerted effort to try something new in their veteran years, and I think that’s admirable. The sound is abrasive and minimalist, with Del commanding your attention from start to finish.
RMPP Preferred Cut: “Abominable Squad”
Stream/Buy on Bandcamp
Sleep Sinatra - In God’s Image
Sleep Sinatra’s 2021 started off on a high. He dropped a strong collaborative album with Ed Glorious, as well as the impressive solo album DIVINENATION that I feel is the best thing Sleep has made to-date. However, legal troubles impacted Sleep midway through the year. Luckily, Sleep emerged from his precarious situation strong, and blessed us with a new album on the final day of 2021.
Unlike his past three albums, this album features no one consistent producer on the album. However, as a terrific producer himself, Sleep curated the sound of In God’s Image well. These beats are consistently soulful, and generally feature a more serene and spiritual flavour. The instrumentals paint a pleasant complimentary backdrop for Sleep’s heady lyricism to take centerstage.
Sleep has many great qualities as an MC, but the one trait that consistently sticks out is how concise he is. On “Stand in Formation”, Sleep drops an eloquent set of bars like it was nothing, where he raps:
“I ain’t never caught good vibes from a colonizer/Bars clutched like a hardened lifer, the real might transition but we the multipliers”
“No Bagdad, but this the bomb pack”
- Sleep Sinatra, “Stand in Formation”
Sleep’s confidence and mic presence has never been better. This energy amplifies the weight behind these socially-conscious and personal/spiritual growth-focused topics he covers, where the listener can truly feel the gravity behind each and every line. Atop these climactic synths, Sleep enters another hyper-focused zone and delivers the shining rapping performance of this album. More great lyrics are found on this gem, such as this crazy bar below:
“You know the usual, people gon’ love you ‘till they can’t use you/losing yourself in different hells if you choose to”
After the tumultuous second half of this past year, I was happy to see simply see Sleep return to his family in good health. So the fact In God’s Image ended up being this good, was just the cherry on top. The momentum Sleep Sinatra has built only continues with this album, and has me hype for what he’s got cooking up in 2022.
RMPP Preferred Cut: “Cthulu”
Stream/Buy on Bandcamp
Check out the “Sleep Sinatra Summit” w/ Freemusicempire and Camo Bucket Hats here.
SEKWENCE - CHAMELEON
Alabama MC SEKWENCE possesses one of the most unique voices in all of hip-hop. If you’re new to SEKWENCE, the gravelly rasp of his voice is the most notable aspect that you’ll immediately notice on his new album CHAMELEON. However, once you get used to that, a heartfelt and well-produced album awaits.
SEKWENCE took his time with this album, creating a very personal experience for the listener that centers around lessons he’s learnt throughout his life, and a prideful acceptance of his chameleon-like personality that inspired the album’s title. His honesty was impressive, and made you really believe what he was trying to communicate through his lyrics.
This wholesome vibe was further bolstered by exceptionally-chosen production. The beats on CHAMELEON are wonderfully-intimate, supplied by the likes of Ohbliv (SEKWENCE and Ohbliv have a project dropping soon btw!), Ntvrme, Killer Kane, and NO-FACE. It compliments the lyrical content so well, providing a calming and dynamic sound that features a lot of analog jazzy warm tones that sound fantastic. Another well-chosen element of this album were the features. Nickelus F absolutely murked his placement on “3K”, Barry Marrow impressed on “GOOD DAZE”, and Ntvrme blew me away with a gorgeously sung hook on “MANTRA”.
Finally, SEKWENCE added 6 whole “Side B” bonus tracks that serve as a hefty addendum to the album that were welcomed additions.
CHAMELEON is a personal and inviting record that will surely leave you in a good headspace when you’re done listening.
RMPP Preferred Cut: “GRANITE”
Stream/Buy on Bandcamp
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