Late into Moodie Black’s new album Lucas Acid, MB mastermind K Death growls “I ain’t really screaming/There’s no pain” and there’s a good chance you’ll think this is a lie based on what you hear around it. After all, Moodie Black are pioneers of noise rap, a subgenre defined by unholy howls, a scene with cacophony in […]
B L A C K I E’s Remains Channels the Collective Rage and Pain of the Oppressed
Like a lot of Americans, I’ve spent most of 2017 tense and nervous and unable to relax, wired on the buzz of anxiety that comes from every cursory glance at the headlines. I feel like the world is ending not as a bang but as a joke and all I can do about it is […]
Future’s New Album is an IKEA Couch of a Record
The consensus of 2016 was that Future had a bad year, but it’s more accurate to say that his stranglehold on rap music simply loosened by a finger or two. While critics who were penning his hagiography the year before rushed to declare that Future was “over,” he was busy forming a symbiotic chemistry with […]
Pet;Wolf, BLXPLTN and Seizing Fascist Imagery to Use it Against Itself
The other day, upcoming hip hop artist Pet;wolf emailed Loser City’s Kayleigh Hughes with a link to a new video he put together for his track “Dance with the Devil.” The video is decidedly lo-fi and low budget, a simple straight ahead webcam shot of Pet;wolf lipsyncing his track with occasional scratchy white out illustrations […]
Migos’ Culture Won’t Be Winning the Culture Wars Any Time Soon
The best musical endeavor Migos have ever been involved with was “Sloppy Toppy,” an overlooked gem off of Travi$ Scott’s Days Before Rodeo mixtape. Gurgling, grandiose and emphatic, it’s likely the most urgent blowjob anthem you’ll hear this decade, and Migos come across like they’ve trained their whole life to rap on it. Between Quavo’s […]
Get That Money: The Get Down, Atlanta and the Deconstruction of Music Biz Glamor
Basically since its inception, pop music has put as much effort into glamorizing what happens behind the scenes as what happens in front of it. The pop stars of the modern era replaced folk heroes not just in popular opinion but also in terms of mythbuilding, with their origin stories as important to their success […]
Fossil Records: Lowdown da Sinista’s Coming for Your Soul
Sometimes, for whatever reason, great art slips past audiences and remains woefully underappreciated. Which is why we’ve created an essay series called Fossil Records, devoted to helping people discover lost and obscure work that never got its due. As far as I can tell, there is no widely available information on rap artist Lowdown da Sinista aside […]
Hella Personal Film Festival is a Standout Work in Both Open Mike Eagle and Paul White’s Careers
The biggest complaint about the weird, abstract California indie hip hop scene is that it’s way too fucking obtuse and heady, forfeiting swagger in favor of a constant pursuit of higher word counts and more jarring cadences. I never really agreed with the assessment of the scene as difficult and unwieldy but I could understand […]
Martis Unruly’s Distant is Queasy Music for Subterraneans
Early on in Distant, Martis Unruly sleepily declares “I look like I’m pissed off/Yet I feel so positive,” the removed tone of the statement jutting up against both the words and the poppy, dystopic “Hollaback Girl” beat. The question posed by that juxtaposition is a classic unreliable narrator dilemma: do we believe Martis’ words? do we believe […]
Codeine Crazy
I never liked Future when I was using. I always found his music to be abrasive and strangely unconducive to turning up, considering he didn’t write lyrics about anything except popping pills and fucking strippers. There was always something slightly off about the production on his songs, something about his brittle rasp that didn’t make […]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next Page »