That's My Dad.

A$AP Rocky - LongLiveA$AP

At this point, it’s no secret modern hip-hop records are often imperfect. One could assume their conception starts with an artist’s trademark style and approach, which is then exemplified in a handful of singles. Many rappers have great ideas within independent strands but they ultimately fall short of becoming the complete packages. They relish inventing a new formula, but aren’t always concerned with their success rate. A$AP Rocky could have easily been shelved as one of those many rappers. After the unusual ingenuity and attentiveness to current hip-hop, LongLiveA$AP as a whole, shows that his improvements are sharp and ever-present. But more importantly, it shows that A$AP is ready and able to break the mold of a modern rap artists achieving success. (7/10)

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Top 50 Songs of 2012: #1, Purity Ring - Fineshrine

Cut open my sternum and pull my little ribs around you. 

“Transcendence” is the best word in music criticism. Originality, precision or talent are all well and good, but if you’re capable of transcending a culture with art, you will have an attention of the masses. Purity Ring came from a weird place. The Canadian duo emerged from a cavern of genres where experimental electro-pop, southern hip-hop, trap rap and witch-house intertwine in unconventional and off-setting ways.

On their debut LP Shrines, Purity Ring take heaps of sonic ideas, production styles and compositions to build an unusual decoupage which would theoretically take a well-read and, quote-on-quote, intellectual music crowd to appreciate. Anyone exposed to their sound knows all of this gets thrown out the window once one of Shrines’ infectious hooks crawls under your skin. From the chopped and screwed sample styles, lead vocalist Megan James’ adorable timbre and ethereal presentation and scope, Shrines unexpectedly lands on the power to transcend complicated music genres and produce a work of engaging and unanimously lovable proportion.

(Source: Spotify)

Top 50 Songs of 2012: #3, Death Grips - Bitch Please

I am the darkness creeping through your system.

Death Grips are my favorite band of 2012 and, potentially, for years to come. Abrasive hip-hop music is quite possibly the least recommendable style, yet I yearn for my friends reactions and take on the aesthetic and emotions Death Grips produce. Of the thirteen cuts from this year’s masterpiece The Money Store, “Bitch Please” was the most enthralling. Featuring the album’s dirtiest beats, drops and lyrics, front-man MC Ride turns up the misogyny and abuse to an head-thumping excess: like a pair of serial killers commissioned to produce a night club banger. Among the infectiously dance-worthy rhythms and murderous lyrical visuals, there’s a sickening catharsis to be found here.

(Source: Spotify)

Top 50 Songs of 2012: #10, El-P - The Full Retard

So you should pump this shit, like they do in the future. 

How many rappers are able to satisfy such a wide spectrum of listeners without sacrificing a drop of intellect and entertainment?  From a single lyric to a whole phrase, a sample choice to the entire beat structure, El-P gushes in on “The Full Retard” with his trademark intelligent personality, futuristic thought-provocation and a brilliant swagger for the ages. It unwraps with more detail and value upon each listen, yet never fails to excite and hype up a crowd. I cannot urge hip-hop listeners enough, “The Full Retard” is the best written song of this year and holds sustenance for years to come.

Top 50 Songs of 2012: #11, Kitty Pryde - Okay Cupid

It’s my party, couldn’t cry if I wanted to. 

What a year 2012 has been for Kitty Pryde. From working at Claire’s at the mall, crushing on Justin Bieber and Danny Brown to becoming the bravest rapper on Tumblr, Kitty caught us off-guard initially with her break-out single “Okay Cupid”. Featuring unorthodox production chops, acute lyrical ability and a nimble flow style to boot, internet-addled cloud-rap fiends weren’t the only ones paying attention. Not just blogs, but major publications reported, critiqued and praised “Okay Cupid” along with Kitty’s future collaborations in the year. And despite an absurdist level of cyber-hate, Kitty holds her ground and fights back with more gusto and defense than many rappers in the industry. Whether you adored the music or aesthetic,  ”Okay Cupid” the moment the internet struck gold with an original talent. Don’t be fooled by the lip tattoos or coy antics, Kitty Pryde is one of the coolest things to happen in hip-hop this year. 

Action Bronson & Party Supplies - Blue Chips

I can’t praise the collaborative mix-tape “Blue Chips” much, but this can be attested: Action Bronson is one of the coolest personalities in underground hip-hop lately. Think not about the limited subject matter or the lack of creative decision and variety, “Blue Chips” admittedly falls on the safety cushion of independent mix-tape territory. But it’s the boom-bap panache, top-notch lyrical wordplay and defining personality which redeems “Blue Chips” something to catch a listen or two of this year. (6/10)

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Top 50 Songs of 2012: #12, AlunaGeorge - You Know You Like It

Some people want me to be heads or tails. 

Thank god for Aluna Francis and George Reid to remind us how catchy UK pop is this year. While the craving for dance-worthy British music has gone dry in recent times, there’s always the lone few projects ready to breathe life back into a fading scene. With some of the grooviest ear-worm hooks and vogue-esque, glossy beats, “You Know You Like It” easily lands the best electronic/pop single for 2012 on both sides of the pond.

Top 50 Songs of 2012: #28, Darq E Freaker (feat. Danny Brown) - Blueberry (Pills & Cocaine)

Crazy, Psycho, Deranged. Poppin’ these pills, sniffin’ cocaine. 

If there’s anybody who deserves the ‘Most Improved’ award in the underground rap scene, it’s undoubtedly Danny Brown. Showing a level of diligence and resiliency by constantly reworking nearly every aspect of his performance, Brown took every show and feature spot as a learning experience and built on himself. In his constant manipulation and experimentation, his tag teamed effort with prodigy producer Darq E Freaker paid off with the absurdly swagged-out “Blueberry (Pills & Cocaine)”; a deviously lyrical jaunt through a grimy night of transgressions built on murderous retro-styled samples. Easily a high point of alternative hip-hop of 2012.

Schoolboy Q - Habits & Contradictions

Equally styled (or swagged) out, broodingly dark and particularly paranoid, Black Hippy member Schoolboy Q comes to his 2012 release, “Habits & Contradictions”, with the laundry list of swag-rap components fully checked off and delivered with a discerning dose of eccentricity; consisting of material that’d make folk like A$AP Rocky sound mundane, provides Schoolboy Q to be an unusually appealing listen. (7/10) 

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Childish Gambino - Royalty

Congratulations! Finally a Childish Gambino release without any dick jokes!

If this statement remotely appeals to your criticisms, Donald Glover has listened to your complaining. “Royalty” quite literally plays as a large response to nay-sayers of his nerd-core, punch-line laden and occasionally aggressive rap personality. By turning up the “swag” factor and doing without nearly every speck of originality Gambino held to his name, Glover has inadvertently landed his seat in some indie-rap/Young Money hybrid convention. Gone is the DIY mix-tape production style and pop. culture references; a shame considering that’s exactly what people flocked to his shows for. Instead, “Royalty” is a continuation of his past LP “Camp” where his technical ability as a rapper is on constant center-stage; a highly unnecessary focus point considering Gambino’s early mix-tapes (“I Am Just a Rapper”, “Culdesac”) enforced that while being some of his most exciting work. Even with this album’s wide-ranged feature list, Gambino ends up looking like a fool with either superior guest spots like Bun B, Beck and Danny Brown or hand-picking awkward company like Chance the Rapper, Danielle Haim and a cringe-worthy Tina Fey. It goes to show when a nerd rapper excessively worries about what everyone thinks of him over every career move; you stop being geek and become a product of mass appeal and consumption. (5/10)

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TNGHT (Hudson Mohawke x Lunice) - TNGHT EP

An anecdote of how I feel when I put this on. 

You’re at a gorgeous party at the person of your dreams is next to the bar, looking more desirable than ever fathomable. Likewise, you make your way and without much effort, swoon the individual into a maddening and tantalizing session of fucking. The doors are slamming, the sheets are ruffling, the bed is running out of springs that work, the rug is ruined! Not only are you amazed at how unbelievably circumstantial the situation is, but also how dream-like everything is paced. And just when the metaphysical steam of the room is opening your pores and setting ablaze to all senses, the dream boy/girl eyes turn neon red and turn into a homicidal and menacing murdering robot. Tossing and turning, whilst still engaged in fucking, he/she begins shooting lethal lasers from its eyes and moving savagely for your death. Feathers from the pillows are flying, curtains are burning, furniture is being destroyed and, while dodging it all, you have never felt more turned on in your entire life. And, most likely, you will never feel that again. (9/10)

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El-P - Cancer for Cure

New York MC, entrepreneur and modern underground legend El-P returns to kill it again on his fourth solo LP, “Cancer for Cure”: an immaculately constructed work of futuristic-styled production with an intelligent yet unsettling, conspiracy-laden narrative resulting in a banging hip-hop record more technically impressive than anything else in sight. (8/10)

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Kitty Pryde - Haha, I’m Sorry EP

If you thought of post-modern “weird” culture as a science museum, Kitty Pryde would be the coolest fucking tour guide you could ever have. This ridiculously adorable female rapper quickly surfaced to the underground rap scene with attention due to her highly unorthodox blend of kooky beats, irregular and slurry rhyme scheme and an iconic persona to capitalize on a bizarre sub-sub-genre: cloud rap. While her debut EP includes gems like her stealthily clever and seductive “Okay Cupid” and the mirthful, swagged-out “Orion’s Belt” featuring a spot-on Riff Raff guest spot, Kitty’s style allows plenty of room for rule-breaking. Songs like “Give Me Scabies” where Kitty Pryde raps over a slurred “Call Me Maybe” sample and a grossly looped saxophone solo make you question how far she can go with the absurdist aesthetic  Through it all, Kitty Pryde’s artistic ideas are unfaltering and tough as steel with her consistency. Her involvement in cloud rap earns her production cred, her Lil B-esque lack of seriousness and Danny Brown-like substance abuse references produce a new personality for folks to get into. Get on her level, you’ll want to see the places this one goes. (7/10)

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A$AP Rocky - LiveLoveA$AP

Stellar production value and beats from an all star team of producers isn’t enough to compensate on newcomer underground rapper A$AP Rocky’s mixtape: “LiveLoveA$AP,” a hit-or-miss pop/rap mix for stoners. (6/10)

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Death Grips - Ex Military 

Get scared. Get really scared. This is Death Grips.

Death Grips is a California hip-hop group who’ve put themselves out there with minimum information and a lot of underground hype. The disclaimer that goes with this artist is of its over-bearing…loudness. Much like Sleigh Bells or Odd Future, these guys approach a genre with wildness. But where Sleigh Bells translate volume into style and Odd Future mold social commentary out of abrasive attitudes, Death Grips is much more grizzly with their agenda. 

With their debut release, Ex Military, there is a bold proposition both in a philosophical and contemporary context presented. On a first interpretation, Death Grips can feel like a radical group of anarchists at a music festival, waving their violent and freakish flag in a corner whilst the majority walks right by it with no serious regard. But there’s much more relevancy and meaning to what may just seem like a gimmicky ‘shock value’ artist.

The album can be represented, as a whole, through three of its most pivotal tracks. The first, Guillotine (It Goes Yah), is a dense and heavily abstract track that tips the scale back and forth between spoken word and hip-hop. The most prominent feature of the song is its basic yet unforgettable beat that sounds like God stomping its foot on the world and you hearing it thousands of miles away. It’s a viciously dark track that suffocates you with its claustrophobic production and themes of suicide, not to mention, a terrifying music video to boot. The next is Ex Military’s main single: Takyon (Death Yon), a monumental track for the album and Death Grips’ uncontrollable style. It follows closely to Guillotine, yet it packs all the punches you wouldn’t think it dared to. This is seriously as close as hip-hop will get to punk while placing both attitudes on full throttle. Towards the end of Ex Military is where Death Grips averts from the obtuse abstractness and makes sense of their motives more on the track, I Want It I Need It (Death Heated). The song works as a work of prose about our generation’s filthy urges for pleasure; sex, drugs and repeat until you die. It helps to place the entire album in a certain perspective in our minds. 

Ex Military is an album that needs to be talked about. From any possible interpretation made, this is a release that will definitely leave a mark on your psyche; some harder than others. If you’re in need of a defibrillator doused in gasoline charged to your forehead, Death Grips might be your musical match. This is not for the faint of heart, but for anyone else, Ex Military is a seriously urgent piece of art that’ll knock you out cold.   

This album was my dad. (9/10)

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