Watson & Holmes - "Black-O-Teric"

Lord Almighty, I used to talk shit about Esoteric. I've changed my mind over the years. Mostly by virtue of the fact I gave up on life itself, but he's improved as a rapper, too.

Besides, everyone sucked back then. Indie rap was mostly a mistake. I'm not talking in terms of hip hop culture, it was a dysgenic wrong turn for our species. This is the wave that made Swollen Members and Dilated Peoples happen. Yak Ballz is making a comeback. We're still suffering for this shit.

Back when it was 7L & Esoteric, jealous losers like me couldn't understand the logic of buying a feature. "Speaking Real Words" had almost nothing going for it aside from a couple decent beats and that Inspectah Deck feature. In the haze of shitty blunt smoke and adolescent jihad, Esoteric was just a rich kid faking the funk. Making rap music for money? Blasphemous, or something.

Over a decade later, everyone everywhere is buying features every day, and Deck is doing Czarface pretty much full-time. This is a classic story. Young men are dumb as fuck.

Stu Bangas is an MPC purist and weightlifting enthusiast whose sound falls somewhere between Marco Polo and Kutmasta Kurt. If either of those references are a bad look to you, we're not the same species. It's more minimalist than musical, but I appreciate the hell out of reactionary aesthetics like that.

I like Blacastan a lot, he's a rock solid live performer, but I laughed out loud when he said he's "often been imitated." I don't even know what that would involve: there's nothing distinctive about him.

An exceptionally forgettable video, all in all.

REKS - "Impression, Sunrise"

Monet doesn't get a lot of props. At least, not as far as rap music goes: I'm assuming Claude still has a fanbase, somewhere. Impressionism might be an artform as dead as lobotomies, but at least Americans have vaguely heard of it. Few rappers alive today are that lucky.

REKS is a beast from Boston who exemplifies the This Rap Shit Ain't A Talent Show ethos. He's released nine albums now, toured the world, worked with every Great Producer that matters...Rhythmatic Eternal King Supreme has paid some dues. That currency is worth less every year, though.

"Fame" doesn't happen much these days without involving TV show & movie appearances. "Success" is much more attainable, and much weirder, too. REKS shot this video while he was touring Europe, and there are thousands of hip hop heads in Boston who don't even know who REKS is. That's ultimately because talent is no substitute for money.

Being hungry, being driven, being prolific - that's about getting work done, not about getting seen & heard. His latest project was a double album: that shit is two hours long. He's stuck in the same cycle of diminishing returns that currently defines Canibus, who is probably working on a ten thousand bar song right now.

REKS is still very much the same rapper he was when Along Came the Chosen dropped in 2001. Staccato spitfire, lots of internal rhymes, and way more comfortable rapping about rapping than actually speaking on something. Much like Chicago emcee Vakill, he's all intensity and no charisma, all skills and no fun. Seldom do you see a human being behind the Impeccable Realness.

"Impression, Sunshine" is a good example: witness how his dense rabbit-warren rhyme schemes just disappear once it's time to address Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. All of a sudden, dude is just kinda talking. And once politics is out of the way, eight bars later, it's right back to business as usual.

That said, business as usual is a pleasure to listen to. REKS does densely layered rapping about rapping as well as anyone, alive or dead. REKS will abide. REKS will continue to tour Europe, make long-ass albums, and do guest features that destroy motherfuckers on their own damn tracks.

This right here, though? Meh. Beat was the best part.

THE INBOXXX: "Ain't Shit Funny" - Avenue

Humpasaur "Hump" Jones: It's 2017, and we're bringing back everything, even THE INBOXXX. I used the power of emotional blackmail to get my former rap manager and DJ to join me one more time. Hopefully a lot more times.

DJ Multiple Sex Partners: I couldn't decide if I was humoring you or enabling you, so, yeah. I figured, let's do it.

HJ: Beautiful. Tonight we've got a video from Avenue, who I have never heard of. Whom?

DJ MSP: So not the Avenue who shot himself, right? His brother? Cousin?

HJ: No relation to Troy, according to my sources, bud. He's from Boston and he's done a track with Royce.

DJ MSP: Pretty strange video so far. You don't see people use drugs on camera like this very often.

HJ: Dude can rap, tho. Flow is impeccable. Big L cover band, for sure, but that's not a bad thing. He's a hell of a lot more interesting than Termanology, at least. This beat is tasty as all fuck.

DJ MSP: Yeah, I might actually play this again. We're totally fucking this up. Where is the hate? It says the beat is by someone named Cooking To Kill. That's dope.

HJ: It really seems like I should have fucking heard about this Avenue cat by now, given the proximity. The Boston area is some kind of event horizon deal - tons of talent, no promo. I blame Leedz.

DJ MSP: Yeah, that makes sense. Man, you stay trying to fuck your own career up, huh?

HJ: No comment for the haters. A black and white video of rappers rapping will never get old for me, as long as motherfuckers can actually rap. I give this two thumbs up.

DJ MSP: Pretty sure that shit is copyrighted but sure, that's my vote, too. He should talk about doo-doo pistols more, though. That's my core critique.

HJ: Fuck, that's eloquent. Well said, bud. We'll give this four out of five Lil' Dickys. I don't think anyone has trademarked that.

THE INBOXXX: "Stay the Night" - TJ Hickey f. Huey Mack

NOTE: You probably don't want to actually see/hear this video.



DJ SQUID: Well, this is all rather rapey.

Hump Jones: Everything about this is disturbing. The second the acoustic guitar comes in, everything about this screams "Full Sail graduate" for all the wrong reasons. This is a flawless radio single, perfectly pitched sponsored content, an anthemic ode to catching STD's from drunk, confused young women who should almost definitely be taking a cab home.

DJ SQUID: Yeah, but nobody wants to hear that shit. This is a club hit for ladies. That beat is straight disco posing as Top 40 EDM. I could see it being a big hit, sadly.

Hump Jones: When this started, I had to pause it, get up from the kitchen table, and close all the windows in this apartment. Because I can't make eye contact with my neighbors if they think I'm rocking out to this shit on a Saturday afternoon. The only word I have for this TJ Hickey experience remains "disturbing." These girls are all clearly underage. Where is all this liquor coming from? Where are the parents these days, daug? Fuck.

DJ SQUID: This whole spectacle is astoundingly white, though. Honky Central. I feel bad for these girls who agreed to partake in this ego trip. I'm blaming this on Boston. Boston, you did this.

Hump Jones: I'm enjoying this video once the breakout star arrives: this dude's fucking haircut is straight out of David Lynch's classic sci-fi masterpiece, Dune. It dominates every frame and completely steals the show with a daring, understated performance.

DJ SQUID: Yes, I strongly believe that Lynch reference was intentional. I can't lie, either, I am definitely thinking about shooting a music video where we wear cool sunglasses and stand in profile against a piercing blue sky. That kinda shit always looks good. As long as I'm not lying, I should mention I turned the sound off on this video about 20 seconds into it.

Hump Jones: Maybe it's the drugs, but I'm starting to wonder if they're not winking at us, and maybe this whole thing is a highly conceptual horror film. This is an ode to David Lynch from the Bret Easton Ellis spawn of post-structural feminist critical theory. What they're depicting here is so vapid and terrifying, the irony must be intentional. Or this just sucks.

DJ Squid: Actually, it was more like 10 seconds.

FDR - "Fear of Death and the Need for Reproduction"

I like working with Godforbid because he is really good at rap and creates terrifyingly fast. It is good to be inspired, it is better to be intimidated. From Alaskan Fishermen cuts to Hump Jones singles to American Style Cardboard, we've covered a lot of ground. This EP is the opening salvo of something bigger and weirder.

Algorhythms: Deluxe Edition - THE TURQUOISE TAPE

EELRIJUE is coming. To celebrate, Algorhythms has remastered their eponymous debut EP, along with several salient singles, to create The Turquoise Tape. If you're not into rap cassettes, no worries: you can get this digitally, too, in all the multifarious formats that Bandcamp provides. A great soundtrack for Tulpa creation, egregore binding, or just general experimentation with Solomon's Lesser Key.

#DAUG - "Breakup Music" - Humpasaur Jones

Finally. Yes. Breakup Music dropped on Labor Day 2013. We are hugely relieved to have this done, and pretty damn proud of it, too. Album is free, or feel free to donate some money for the World Around cause. We always like that.



See Also: Potholes coverage & Answering Questions about Breakup Music.

Dr. Quandary - "Can't Go On Without You"

In the past 48 hours, Dr. Quandary pulled two surprise moves: he formally resigned from World Around Records, and he dropped this hypnotic gem, Can't Go On Without You. Clearly we can expect something fierce & new from this free agent before the year is out. This cat was a hard worker and a smooth manager and WE SALUTE YOU #DAUG.

"Watching Rome Burn from Aventine Hill" - Louis Mackey

"Five Seasons" - Paranom

A consistent winning streak in humanoid format, Paranom delivers again. Gritty & imaginative, quality rap. We dig it.

"HANDS UP" - Alaskan Fishermen

NEW ALASKAN FISHERMEN ALBUM IS FINALLY OUT. Godforbid, Father Time and Thirstin Howl the 3rd have re-united for a follow-up that is even more insane than Fire & Ice was. Here's a taster...

Algorhythms - "Open Ended"

A track that should have been released ages ago finally sees the light of day: "Open Ended," the first track off a long lost Algorhythms album. Dr. Quandary on the beats.

American Style Cardboard - "Driveway"

American Style Cardboard = Godforbid & Doc Delay. This is one of the finest cuts off their album, a stripped-down but detail-packed narrative song that's basically a short film.

Alaskan Fishermen - "Fire and Ice"

One of the best rap albums of all time. Easy. Over the course of the next month, we will probably post every single track, but definitely go and hunt it down anyway.

Here's a review from 2003 -- probably the only review to get written. Spoiler: "...this is a lyrically rich gem that will have you rewinding all over the place."

UPDATE: Turns out there's a sequel on the way. Got a preview and that shit is facemelter status. Those Jeremy Page productions are huger than ever: completely insane. No word on when the album will drop but there are at least finished tracks that exceed expectations. Big thanks to Godforbid.

Czarface: The Cynicism of Keeping it Real

No doubt about it, this is a smart move. Czarface is an album-length recreation of the moment that established & defined the career of 7L & Esoteric -- a collaboration with Inspectah Deck, Speaking Real Words.



That shit was The Fucking Blueprint for indie rap success: you buy a feature verse from someone with serious credibility, you get them on the best beat on the album, and you tour on that shit until the money runs out. Right at the dawn of the Internets Era, 7L & Esoteric were there, ready and...well, ready and fully funded. That was over a decade ago, and since then the 7L & Eso brand has gotten drowned out as 100,000 other indie acts attempted to follow in their footsteps.

So how do you plot a comeback? Pretty much exactly like this. The press release for Czarface reads like an updated Blueprint for the 2012 Blog Rap scene. Deck insists they're keeping it realer than real: "The industry doesn’t need another well packaged, put together 'act'" he says...but when your project has guest spots from Roc Marciano, Action Bronson and Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire it's hard to pretend there's no packaging involved.

Now, any project in 2012 should feature all three of those cats. Don't get me wrong.

Is there still an underground? Esoteric desperately wants to have an Empire to fight against: "CZARFACE is a vigilante, anti-hero character who serves as the face of the project, and his focus is on annihilating the media darlings that the mainstream caters to." In an era where Rhymesayers and Def Jux (RIP) artists are placing on the Billboard Top 10 album charts and major label rappers are selling fewer units than ever, what the fuck does "underground" even mean in 2012?

The underground won. Rap is just a huge open-air slaughterhouse now, and there are more rappers than actual hip hop fans. Every open mic avenger in the 90's wanted it to be about skills, and now they're all coping with the consequences of getting exactly what they wanted. The underground blew up, the industry burned down, and now we're pimping ourselves like it was part of the plan all along.

Nice try.

Godforbid & Thirtyseven - Big Day for the Little People

Godforbid & Thirtyseven isn't an official name -- it's more like deliberate copyright infringement. Two rappers who have had their names usurped by mere rock bands teaming up to reclaim reality, or something. This cut is a demo from 2007, which represents the 6th installment of World Around Wednesday, which is a sentence I just typed with 5 fingers. There are no coincidences in the Kali Yuga.

Get familiar with That Handsome Devil and American Style Cardboard.

Oneiric Field Mandala - Dr. Quandary

Raw, dark, psychedelic boom bap that draws from African deserts and Indian cities in equal measure. I fucking loved this track.



Dr. Quandary is, of course, a founder of World Around Records and an instrumental artist with serious bona fides for 2012. If you're digging this, his debut album is highly recommended: Beyond All Spheres of Force and Matter.

"Sodapop & Bubblegum" - American Style Cardboard

YES #DAUG ...YES. Been itching to release this for over a year. Doc Delay and Godforbid's project American Style Cardboard dropped at the beginning of 2012 and yours truly got some bars in on the final cut, Sodapop & Bubblegum. Godforbid is one of my all-time favorite rappers so being on a track with him is already an honor and all that rap nerd shit, but this one? FACEMELTER. Enjoy and check the whole album out.

(And when you're done, check out "Fear of Death and the Need for Reproduction.")

Humpasaur Jones - "Funeral Groupies"

Lyrics videos don't have to suck. Dig it.

Download the original track via Bandcamp.

#CLASSIC: Alaskan Fishermen - Oh God!

Way too many quotables. Godforbid's solo track off the fucking classic Fire & Ice. FLOWS.

"women want me for the beautiful kids
stick around, put food in the fridge
take your tools and fix junior's bed
his room is a mess...I ain't doing that shit
must be some guy that you're confusing me with..."

"when I get cuts, scientists are lining up to buy the blood
but you better have Budweiser trucks, or drive a bus
of girls gymnastics, in them classes that teach 'em how to bend backwards
...that kinda stuff"

What is Godforbid doing now? If you didn't already know about That Handsome Devil, that's pretty stupidface, I won't lie. They're Wikipedia type big. One of my favorite cuts off their last album: