PLUGGED IN: March 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).
SolarFive & Iceberg Theory - Momento Mori
Grand, important, and urgent would be the words I’d use when describing Momento Mori, an album that translates to “Remember you must die” in English. A palpable weight surrounds each moment of this album. This LP feels like reckoning with one’s mortality, with themes touching on the concept of time and death.
SolarFive is a veteran MC and producer from Chicago who’s best work may very well be right here on this album, since true passion and insightful life-lessons are in abundance on Momento Mori. There is a flexibility found in SolarFive’s performance that makes his rapping so engaging. Sometimes his raps are rather quiet. Other times they are delivered with more bass behind them. At all times, there is conviction dripping from every bar that makes his messages permeate the listener’s consciousness. There is an understated confidence that juxtaposes nicely with Iceberg Theory’s rich production.
This is arguably Iceberg Theory’s best batch of beats yet, along with his country-rap extravaganza with 2 Dolla Will from 2021. The instrumentals breathe life into the otherwise somber and dark lyricism from SolarFive. There is boldness in the rich jazz samples and hard drums, which mirrors the powerful rapping from SolarFive. A beautiful tapestry of sharp drums, percussion, and brass shower the listener on “Swing Low”, along with a triumphant intro instrumental that stand out as some of my favourite musical moments on Momento Mori.
The artistic vision for Momento Mori is achieved in just under 25 minutes, due to incredibly lean song construction that embodies a lesson I get from this album to not waste time, and I very much appreciate that. Minute details like the faint sound of rain in the penultimate track, transitioning into all-out pouring rain sounds on the final track exemplify the degree to which Momento Mori succeeded in creating a brief, but ultimately complete cinematic experience.
RMPP Preferred Cut: “Swing Low”
Stream/Buy on Bandcamp
ZelooperZ - Get WeT.Radio
ZelooperZ has built a reputation for being an electric performer with seemingly no limits to what kind of energy he can bring to a track. However, on Get WeT.Radio, he somehow manages to defy expectations once again and reach a new frontier.
While the acclaimed predecessor to this album, Van Gogh’s Left Ear, bounced around between various hip-hop sub-genres, Get WeT.Radio leaves hip-hop altogether. This album provides a compelling set of romantic jams that are heavily influenced by R&B, and largely feel like R&B songs primarily. Furthermore, the R&B influence Z plays with here are vintage 90s joints, produced by the steady hands of Black Noi$e and Dilip.
Although ZelooperZ is a singer with very limited vocal talent, strong songwriting propels standouts like “Its Me”, along with a charming delivery that makes other standouts like “Sorry” and “SWV” irresistibly catchy.
The incorporation of these old school R&B samples is very well done, since these beats manage to feel soulful and cute, while maintaining a hip-hop grit in the drums and percussion that highly impresses. The producers on this record really showed out, and should be on your radar for beatmakers to watch in the future.
Get WeT.Radio is certainly unlike anything else that has dropped in 2022, and is a must-listen.
RMPP Preferred Cut: “Its Me”
Stream/Buy on Bandcamp
Fatboi Sharif & LoneSword - Cyber City Society
New Jersey and New York have been hotbeds for this new cutting-edge experimental hip-hop that we’ve been graced with since the pandemic began. Two artists at the forefront of this experimental renaissance have been Fatboi Sharif and LoneSword (aka Lungs when he raps), who joined forces for their latest EP, Cyber City Society.
The most experimental and abstract cuts off Sharif’s Gandhi Loves Children have proven to be the main lane that he has been exploring ever since the that highly-acclaimed record dropped. His features on projects by the likes of billy woods, Steel Tipped Dove, AJ Suede, Darko the Super, and more (there has been many), have routinely seen Sharif rap in fever dreams and acid trips.
On Cyber City Society, this style of psychedelia-infused rapping continues. His rapping often hangs on certain notes in a word, and delivered in a spooky preacher-type manner. If the first five tracks of this EP don’t fully convince you that you are in fact listening to an alien, the acapella closing track “Adolescence” will surely do so. This song perfectly showcases the magnetic power that underpins Fatboi Sharif’s raps, and his ability to paint a full panoramic picture of twisted horror.
The soundscape LoneSword provided to complement Sharif’s rapping operates at a similar wavelength of abstraction. A mesmerizing reverse-sample powers “Plastered”, and a dark woozy loop of sound is found on “Encrypted”. In both cases, the production not only provides a neat soundbed for Sharif’s raps to rest upon, but LoneSword’s production warp and bend around Sharif’s fluid raps in a way that fuels the psychedelia of this album.
Cyber City Society is proof-positive that Fatboi Sharif is firmly on his way to becoming a true rap auteur, and LoneSword is a producer with a sound that absolutely needs to be heard. Even for those who fancy themselves fans of experimental hip-hop, this one is surely to raise eyebrows.
RMPP Preferred Cut: “Acid Rain”
Stream/Buy on Bandcamp
Check out the Fatboi Sharif and Roper Williams interview here, and a piece on why I believe Fatboi Sharif is a star in the making here.
Deleteeglitch - Whispers from the Wayside
LoneSword has had himself a busy last few months, included on this list once again for his work producing the debut project from Deleteeglitch, Whispers from the Wayside. Deleteeglitch is not someone I had much of any familiarity with prior to this project, however, due to the LoneSword production and some co-signs from some heads I respect, I decided to give this project a listen.
Deleteeglitch is a rapper who will certainly satisfy the ear of fans of the somewhat abstract and exceptionally thoughtful music of a Big Flowers or S!LENCE, who both appear as guests on this album. Deletee’s verses are highly-referential, and feature a solid helping of dry humour that allows the album to feel insightful and simultaneously light at the same time.
Deleteeglitch did a great job enlisting a strong cast of features, with standout verses from some familiar, and less familiar faces too. No guest impressed more than Lungs (aka LoneSword) who absolutely annihilated “BIG OLE BURT” with a rapid-fire barrage of excellence.
Unlike the dark and horror movie score-esque production on Cyber City Society, LoneSword’s production on Whispers from the Wayside is a lot more soulful and jazzy. There is a fun vibrancy to these instrumentals, alongside the trademark glitch and warped sample structures that LoneSword has been employing for years.
Whispers from the Wayside successfully toes the line between playful and challenging.
RMPP Preferred Cut: “BIG OLE BURT”
Stream/Buy on Bandcamp
Elzhi & Georgia Anne Muldrow - Zhigeist
I have said this before, and I will say it again. When it comes to rappers who have the most natural of flows, as it relates to being able to rock any flow in a way that also can incorporate melody and rhythm too… Elzhi is in my top 5 alongside other magicians like Biggie, Lupe Fiasco, Freddie Gibbs, and Black Thought. For evidence of this fact, look no further than “Amnesia” off this new collaborative album with Georgia Anne Muldrow. The zone he finds himself in here is unparalleled.
Elzhi is the king of the “lyrical exercise song”, where his lyrics follow some sort of concept. “Pros and Cons” is another strong addition to his catalog of great songs in this vein. However, although the impeccable rapping ability was to be expected with Elzhi, the production from Georgia Anne Muldrow and the lyrical scope was certainly not.
From 2016’s Lead Poison to 2020’s Seven Times Down Eight Times Up, Elzhi has slowly but surely walked himself out from under a black cloud of depression. On Zhigeist, I feel as if this period of healing has naturally run its course, where Elzhi is in a good enough state of mind to shift his attention outward and inspire others. This idea is cemented by the album’s centerpiece “Understanding / Understanding Reprise”, which eloquently speaks on how Black folks have historically been treated and manipulated by the powers that be, before ultimately painting a hopeful and triumphant tone on what the future may hold, if folks move the right way.
I appreciate Elzhi’s penchant to not make the same album twice. Not only was this album a change of pace lyrically, but Georgia Anne Muldrow provided a sound that is unlike any Elzhi album in the past. Although Elzhi previously worked with live instrumentation on the exceptional Will Sessions-produced Elmatic, Georgia gives Elzhi the brightest and funkiest sounds of his storied career. These instrumentals shine in a way that expands on the uplifting subject matter, and lighter spirit that Elzhi displays on Zhigeist.
Elzhi’s catalog has continued to grow in strength and diversity over the years, with Zhigeist presenting us with the most joyful version of Elzhi yet.
RMPP Preferred Cut: “Amnesia”
Stream/Buy on Bandcamp
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