2015 RAP

Houston's Beatking and Atlanta's Young Thug have just released another quality album each. For me right now there are four rappers who stand out from the pack Young Thug, Kevin Gates, Future and of course Beatking. I love me Lils too ie. Boosie, Duke, Durk & Herb. HBK, MPA and Sauce people are real good too. It's hard to leave out the perennially underrated Starlito. Then there's Gangsta Boo, Youngs Dolph & Scooter, Zuse, RJ, Choice and a bunch of others. One thing I'm way not getting is the Awful Records roster. Every artist on this label seems to get a great critical response with every album they issue and yet I couldn't name you one that I thought was any good and I've listened to at least half of Awful's catalogue. Some things are for other people I guess, people not like me.

Those 4 aforementioned rappers are just several notches higher than the rest at the moment. Kevin Gates usually has the best quality control of these four but he's only released one short mixtape this year Murder For Hire that was a bit hard to handle as the djs were a bit overbearing, smothering Kev's idiosyncratic tunes. So really apart from those 7 tracks so far we've only got 4 tunes that are slowly trickling out of i-tunes from his LP Islah which now has a release date for 2016. What's goin on Kev? We were getting two quality albums/mixtapes for the last three years running and that was an unsurpassed winning streak for recent rap. Perhaps I should give Murder For Hire another chance. So 2015 has been a tad disappointing for Gates fans after those previous three years. I don't read gossip columns so maybe I'm missing something like record company troubles, parole violations, legal issues, personal problems - possibly all of the above. Of the remaining 3 it's hard to say who's on top. Thugga and Beatking have released 3 albums/mixtapes each in 2015. Young Thug can be a bit erratic while Beatking is very consistent but can be a bit samey so it's a toss up between those two. Future's released 3 albums/mixtapes as well this year but he has the edge I reckon because he did that collaboration with Drake What A Time To Be Alive which is surprisingly good. Anyway it's not football so we can enjoy everyone's season and I'm pretty sure before the year is out Young Thug and Future could have at least one more release left in them each. As Gates says these four guys 'don't get tired.'

On The Hi-Fi (in brief) Part 43

Walberswick - Jon Brooks
Brooks is back just 6 months after Advisory Circle's 2014 classic From Out Here (which I'm still listening to on a weekly basis) with another bewdy. He's keeping up his batting average and getting better with each new release. This starts off in weird electronics mode with Mr Brooks I Presume before settling into synth ambience in excelis.

Songs Of Gold, Incandescent - Dolphins Into The Future/Lieven Martens Moana
Classic themes here from Lievens. This is actually a compilation of rarities from 2010-2014. I mean isn't all his stuff rare. We've got waves, bells, jungle sounds, Pacific Islander choirs, strange electronics, underwater soundtracks, Casio vibraphones, submarine drones and the inevitable scuttling sea creature soundz. Songs Of Gold makes you realise how much sonic territory Dolphins Into The Future have covered over the years without you even realising.

Machines Are Obsolete - Pye Corner Audio/Pathways - Pye Corner Audio & Belbury Poly
(Ghostbox Other Voices Series 05)
A-Side: "Easy listening dystopian sounds. 80s attempts at futuristic soundtracks."*
B-Side: "Future Sailor but not as good like Howard Moon has found the new sound but no he hasn't it's just an old one. It sounds like every single song from 1983!"*

*Special comments from Mrs Space Debris.

Pathways is reminding me of a John Foxx tune I can't quite put my finger on. Chuck in a bit of Kraftwerk and a Giorgio Moroder synth guitar lead break and you've probably got it in a nutshell.

Murder For Hire - Kevin Gates
I was really looking forward to this but there's just way too much screaming dj action on this one. Kevin Gates gets buried beneath all the extraneous racket here. I hope he didn't put any classics on this 7 track datpiff exclusive mixtape because I don't think I can put up with dj holiday for one more second in my life. Why does he have to show up on like every 4th rap mix-tape and why doesn't he shut the fuck up and let Gates do his thang.

Livonia - His Name Is Alive
Who would have thought that this would still sound good 25 years later? My 90s trip has gone back to my 4AD records and sure the 80s was 4AD's decade but they still had some gems in the 90s like their last Cocteau's record, Throwing Muses The Real Ramona, The Breeders Pod, The Pale Saints, Red House Painters and the first 2 LPs from His Name Is Alive. Livonia was their first record and yeah it's really pretentious but fuck it sounded good today. I was expecting to want to turn it off after 30 seconds but I played it twice in a row. This is a strange album. It's sort of outsider folk/loop-ology/random electronics and noise guitars. I wanted to play their 2nd LP Home Is In Your Head which I recall being even better but it's on tape and sadly me house no longer contains a tape deck!

Beatking - Houston 3AM

Beatking aka Club God aka Club Godzilla aka Club King Kong...

He's back thank God(zilla). The only rapper along with Kevin Gates who is currently keeping my eyeballs on the rap scene really. I was a bit confused as it started with Stopped but this is a better version than the one on Club God 4 from earlier this year. It's some kind of weird tradition to chuck an old song here and there onto your new mixtape in the rap game ie. Houston 3AM also includes a version of Keisha which originally appeared on Gangster Stripper Music 2. Something I'm yet to fully understand, whatever, I suppose. I was a bit worried on the last mixtape, as Beatking was second guessing himself. He was trying to appeal to his new white and Asian hipster audience as well as his usual hood/club fan base. He even said he recorded a whole new tape during this time and released that instead of his original recordings. He had no need to over think things though because he gained a wider audience by just doing what he does. The best way to go is to just keep on truckin at what you do best and that will keep you true to yourself and your fans. Otherwise you could lose your fans altogether and then you're fucked. Suffice to say this is way better than Club God 4 which was pretty good anyway.

This is the best release from rap zones since King Kev's Luca Brasi 2 and Beatking's very own absolute classic belter Gangster Stripper Music 2. The Club God's consistency is incredible and it continues here. Don't worry he's sticking to his classic themes here: strippers, headjobs, clubs, cars, thowin ass, his dick, paper, Houston etc. He pulls off his usual subject matter with such aplomb you don't get bored with it. Sonically he's got an array of styles as usual like ratchet, trap, 90s European tech flavas and softer soulful R&B. These styles are all intermingled now and just come out as Beatking music. Last year I asked the question, on this here blog, whether he was into rave, hardcore, gabba, doomcore etc.? He gave me an answer on Nervous, the outro, to Club God 4 by admitting his love for Neophyte the Dutch gabber crew from the 90s who had a slew of 12"s on the legendary Rotterdam Records during the golden age of gabber.

On Houston 3AM he even adds to his flavas with a hint of Calypso, Boogaloo, sweet soul and even a lil' bit of old school. I Got Hoez is state of the art Beatking with its low-key ominous yet sumptuous keyboards, brittle drum machines, subtle abstract background samples and great raps from Club King Kong himself and Short Dawg. Beatking's own productions are fine as per usual like Holup, Holup with its intergalactic siren stab, Donkey Kong soundtrack soundz, minimal keys and a wasted crawling vibe. This is shit hot! For a man who is known for being crass he can be incredibly understated at times. Not Right has got the best bass pressure on the tape while the rest of the tune has an opulence you want to get inside of. The Club Godzilla might on first impressions seem amoral or downright up in your grill immoral but he is slowly revealing a particular moral code. You might not agree with it but he does have one, not that I could give a fuck. It's just interesting in a Tony Soprano type of way. His contradictions and sophistication could be a reason for Beatking's continued artistic success though. Houston 3AM Freestyle is an unusually funky electro party jam that is soo superfly good. X-Files includes a sample of, well, the theme to the X-Files that sounds v cool you want it to go way longer than its interlude length of 1 minute. Actually the previous tune Isolated was possibly using the same notes or something very similar come to think of it. Squad keeps the spacey X-Files feel going as well but in a more 80s Casio cosmic tone setting.

One of the highlights here is Deposit which features fellow Houston rapper Sauce Walka who released the funny Sorry For The Sauce mixtape earlier in the year. There's a great bit of Twin Peaks style freaky/disturbing backwards Beatking rapping at the end of No Sleep, I like. That Ain't My Thot features a great boogaloo feel which is pretty much a wholesale appropriation of the 90s tune It Ain't My Fault by Silk The Shocker and Beatking ends it in skit style. Here he talks about strip club addicts who think they're gonna go home with the stripper because they've pumped so much money into her g-string throughout the night but they just end up getting turfed out of the club when the morning light starts appearing under the club doors. Swangas is the Beatking givin us a bit of sugar with a 90s sample I can't quite put my finger on and it's driving me mental. H is a fabulous slow jam informed by subtle gloomcore along with sweet soul vibes provided by Chalie Boy. H is obviously a love song to the city in which he resides H-Town ie. Houston. On Japan Beatking samples an artist who might be Juicy J or Chad C Pimp Butler (of UGK fame), correct me if I'm wrong and he's (the sampled dude) talking about country rap and how that became a style and an inspiration for regional and southern rap, I think? Beatking saves the best till last with the self indulgent navel gazing of What I am that's not uninteresting because he doesn't get where he stands in this mp3 generation. In the past (pre mp3) he would have been able to measure success by record sales. How do you measure it now though? He's well off, where he wants to be, got people calling him a legend, MTV playing his videos etc. but he can't seem to grasp where he fits in the larger cultural picture. I guess he is still a cult concern but maybe that's not enough for him no matter how large the parish. He never says he wants a Grammy or a Number 1 single though, I mean that's how some old people measured popularity and success. Now it's all social media hits and Datpiff & HotNewHipHop download stats. After the Club God is finished with his mini self therapy session he throws in an unexpected and secretive classic cut featuring Gangsta Boo that didn't make it onto the great Underground Cassette Tape Music joint from last year. It makes you want Beatking to collaborate with Boo again and again. This tune contains brilliant horror movie motifs, a looped scraping violin and John Carpenter-esque minimal keyboards.

I feel like my world is back on its axis with this new Beatking mixtape and hey there's a new Kevin Gates one too (more on that soon). My faith in rap is has been restored thanks to Beatking. This might be the best recording of the year. He's still the Club God! Still the Club Godzilla! Still the Club King Kong! Still the fucking Beat King mane!!

Lil Wayne - Dedication 2

HIP HOP I IGNORED - A REPRISE
PART V

I know fuck all about Lil Wayne and have never heard a proper album from him. After that Gangsta Grillz produced mixtape/album Luca Brasi 2 by Kevin Gates I thought it would be good to go down past paths with both Wayne and DJ Drama and his Affiliates. What I did know about Lil Wayne was that he was a really popular and critically acclaimed rap artist in my rap black spot era. I know he had a series of LPs called Carter Volumes I - IV I think, V on its way? Since returning to the rap tabernacle, I've downloaded a few of his tapes to see what all the fuss is/was about. I have since found out he along with 50 Cent (don't know him either) were instrumental in the post-millennial era in making the whole free mixtape/mp3 thing such quality. At the time of his proper album releases Lil Wayne used to say forget about the album, the good stuff is on the mixtapes. That makes him a bit like the rap Martin Scorsese, you know, do a commercial film to finance your next uncompromising film. I just learnt that Lil Wayne has surpassed Elvis in the US charts with the most entries at 109. That's quite remarkable on his part and even more remarkable on my part for probably first hearing him on about his 106th entry YG's My Nigga. He was on that wasn't he? Wayne is one of the most lovable critters in the rap game. Hearing that he's semi- retired because he wants to spend more time on his skateboard only endears him to me even more.

So this is the first in my series of Hip Hop I Ignored to feature a semi-legit recording but the mixtape scene is such an important part of the rap world (ever since the beginning hip hop street parties). Perhaps even more so these days, as a way to break artists before you can get the public to pay for their music. This year one of my favorite rappers Houston's Beatking released his first non free recording. I've probably got like 9 or 10 free downloaded mixtapes of his but now is the only time I've had to fork out the cash for one. If it weren't for those tapes I might not have even been aware of him or checked him out, anyway I'm off track because Weezy (a Lil Wayne alias) was always a star and began doing the tapes after fame.

So here we have Dedication 2 from 2006 that many say is his best mixtape. A handful of others were in contention like No Ceilings, Da Drought 3 and The Suffix. He was only 23 at the time of this tape but was already a hip-hop veteran as he was signed to Cash Money Records at age 9. He makes many a reference to being Cash Money's bread and butter. Funnily enough he's now suing Birdman (Cash Money head honcho) for 8 million dollars. Why do I always choose the long ones? I mean this is way too long, 78 minutes motherfucker. I maintain 40 minutes is the perfect amount of minutes for an album and these long ones are usually bursting with filler. Just give us your gold because time is precious and what your dog engineered at 4 am on Tuesday doesn't need to be heard. Not having ever heard anything by Lil Wayne previously makes this a strange proposition to review. His style here is very casual. Is that his normal style or is he more relaxed on these mixtapes? Quite often in the mixtape game the DJs are lame and repetitive and don't really add much to proceedings, I mean apart from the beats. Actually they usually detract from said proceedings (see my Rich Gang review) and they do a little of that on this tape. Sometimes you just want them to shut the fuck up but hey I guess they're the ones financing these tapes. Are they? I don't know how it all works.

It all starts with a DJ scratch and Weezy saying he's doing it for the love not the money. He's just being Lil Weezy. Get Em's next and his flow is just the coolest thing you ever heard since, I dunno, Q-Tip. This one's all about puttin out cockroaches in ashtrays, guns, clips, Ferraris and being a god. He says he's on fire give him something else on They Still like Me. 'The niggas tryin hate me/bitches tryin to have me.' Best rapper alive is just that Weezy realising he's the best rapper alive but he doesn't think he's better than anyone personally or better than anybody 'in any way or form or fashion' As far as this rap thing goes though he is better than everybody. Maybe he was back in 2006. It's refreshing to hear someone really funny. Cannon's all guns and money. Choice lyric "I'll Helen Keller you niggers". Then of course he's bragging about his big dick comparing it to, well, a cannon. Workin Em's about being superfly, pimpin them hoes and gettin from A to B in comfort and style. Sportscenter has like a tennis ball and a groaning tennis player as a beat. He's servin trap like Stephie Graf, havin a Benjamin bath, he's from New Orleans and he's got some guns. Welcome To The Concrete Jungle has a killer beat. Spitter's got blood everywhere, bling, money, more bling and "this is New Orleans bitch murder dope fiend shit!" South Muzik is dedicated to all those who died in Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. "After the after party is the basket party" one can only imagine what that's like. At one stage he raps "My interior tie dye" like that's a good thing. This What I Call Her is one of those rap tunes where they pretty much rip off an entire old soul tune wholesale. Here it works great. The tune's 1979's One Night Affair by The Stylistics via Lovin It by Little brother. This is a sex jam with talk of sex in stairwells, sex revolutions, he goes down like the stock exchange and drinks it up, slips in her inkwell and leaves her soaking wet from the ankles up. Dedication 2's title track has a sample of Nancy Sinatra's Bang Bang. They're "Ridin The Streets his pop died in" (whether or not he died in Katrina is unclear) with an AK in the backseat. At one stage he says 'God damn the hurricane!' Then there's kind of a halfway interlude where Weezy talks about retiring and wanting to be known for something else apart from being a rapper when he dies. Well he's pretty well known as a wasted skateboarder who doesn't give a fuck about anything. I don't think that's what he means though. Perhaps he would like to be known for something more noble than that, I dunno, a millionaire wasted skateboarder sounds pretty cool to me.

Poppin Them Bottles has Weezy on perfect flow again. He mentions purp but that can either mean lean or a high grade pot. Whichever way you look at it it's a tune dedicated to getting wasted with pistols. Then he comes out with a classic lyric "If it's that time of the month baby, girl, I need some skull." Wow. The backing track's got a sweet Blaxploiatation sample from Willie Hutch via Triple Six Mafia's Poppin My Collar. What U Kno's sees Lil Wayne back being a New Orleans gangsta after the storm and it cost him about 3 million to rebuild his home. He's back in his defence, back in his zone. Then he pays tribute to 90s Memphis devil shyt in his rap "I eat rappers and go in my yard and bury their bones!" Where Da Cash At is all about paper and pussy. Little Wayne's rapping is so cool on this one. Weezy's got a bitch in the back, a hoe in the front. He got 'purp in the dutch and purp in the cup.' Ridin With The AK features Curren$y and Mack Maine. They're ridin through The Crescent City with a gun in the trunk with 'a barrel big enough to spend a hundred midgets.' Followed by references to being the chosen one, murdering for fun and being Birdman's son. Then Wayne in a short interlude laments the dead of the New Orleans flood again. Walk It Off has Weezy claiming he's a good looking rapper and he 'ain't lying'. Then he states that he's 'tougher than leather, smoother than suede, always never broke because he always get paid.' He progresses to getting his dick sucked, ridden and bounced on. Apparently his dick is so big that his bitch can wrap it around her waist like a belt. Gee these rappers have got big dicks haven't they? Hustlin's got a great rhyme 'How about that exhaust and my Funky Cold Medina, I make that hoe tiptoe like a ballerina' I can't work out if he's singing about his Maserati or a woman. Then he does a funny clunky line referring to his lady as 'Miss without Drawers' and then refers to himself at the bank as 'Mr Withdraws'. Gettin Some Head is pretty self explanatory with a feature from Pharrell that really doesn't cut it. Some of Lil Wayne's best lyrics are here though. 'I'm a fly ass nigga take a look at me bitch!' Then he recycles Three Six Mafia once again 'So she slobbed on my knob like a corn on the cob.' No Other is Wayne's most aggressive rap on the tape. It's all done over Jay Z's Intro from The Dynasty. I have a vague recollection of a bit of a feud between the two or at least a healthy rivalry. It's now 2015 and The South is on top in the rap world, followed by California and Chicago with barely a peep out of New York these days. Strange really because hip hop culture emanated from the mean streets of NY back in the day.

Georgia... Bush & Weezy's Ambitionz is seen by many as the centrepiece of this tape. It's a big fuck you to George Bush and his administration and they're handling of Hurricane Katrina ('shoulda called it Bush') before during and after. Lil Wayne's friends died in the flood. The survivors didn't know what to do they were just trying to eat. Cops shot people in the street. I mean we all know what happened and the systematic racism involved. It's all set to Field Mob's beat which contains a sample of Ray Charles Georgia. Then the second part is Weezy masterfully flowing freestylee ('and with no pen I'm sorta like a bomb. Boom!') over a totally different beat. He's back to bragging about money, diamonds, purple weed, purple drink and how he's the best rapper in the game.

Yeah he is a fuckin cool rapper and this is good shit but the beats aren't always that great. Hey this is an off the cuff thing though, it's meant to be rough and not all commercial dance floor hits. I suppose that leaves you with more time to concentrate on the lyrics. I guess I'm used to rap's current great mixtapes which are more like albums, many not featuring screaming DJs at all. Hey I might check out Lil Wayne's legitimate records now. Some of those Carter ones I think.

Luca Brasi 2 - Kevin Gates

If Kevin Gates's Luca Brasi 2 had been released before the 15th of December last year it would most definitely have been in my best of 2014 list. On first listen I thought this was nowhere near as good as his other 2014 release, the excellent, By Any Means. Now I'm pretty sure it's even better and possibly his best recording to date. I also thought there was nothing as bangingly hit worthy as Don't Know What To Call It from 2013's Stranger Than Fiction which should have been a number 1 smash.  I Don't Get Tired featuring August Alsina is almost as awesome but only reached 107 on the US chart and only 33 on the US R&B chart. Then again how many songs about working hard are hits? It's all about the partying in the charts innit?. Kevin Gates has had a hell of a winning streak though with his previous 7 or 8 mixtapes/albums (My files have disappeared so???). Luca Brasi 2 sees him team up with DJ Drama's Gangsta Grillz mixtape team for the first time. Gangsta Grillz have been behind such classics as Young Jeezy's Trap Or Die, Lil Wayne's Dedication 2 and Lil Boosie's Streetz Is Mine among many other groundbreaking semi-legit mixtapes.

It starts off with an Intro that gets straight to the heavy issues Gates is now known for depression and aggression. He mentions being like God, cocaine, cars (big theme with Kev) and something about a Barber Shop. Next is I Don't Get Tired, which was the first and only single so far from the LP, that irritated the hell out me when I first heard it but now I see this is an incredible tune. This features some of his most incredible rapping. Kevin's flow is so idiosyncratic that nobody sounds like this guy. The timbre of his voice is so exquisite. It has quite an affect on the ladies (I've seen women leave their phone numbers on the interweb for Gates) and the men as well. I mean I wish I had a voice that great. I Don't Get Tired features mental fast rapping followed by smooth melodic choruses featuring divine backing vocals and August Alsina's luxurious feature. The tune's about getting dead presidents (that's $$$ folks). He goes from living on an airbed and eating stale Rice Crispies to owning a farm? I hope that's what he says. I can see him and Lil Boosie sippin' lean on the front veranda discussing their prison days with a host of ladies in bikinis. In one section it sounds like he's melodiously singing "I was just tying to get an eye lift." I mean this guy first entered the penal system at age 13 and is currently on parole, he's so hood there's no way he's saying that but I want to believe it because that would be so funny. Anyway this track is some kind of strange salute to the American dream. John Gotti fits with the mafia theme of Luca Brasi who was a character in The Godfather who was Don Corleone's enforcer but I guess he's most famous for being included in the quote "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes." John Gotti is a catchy highlight of the album. This could be Kev's most megalomaniac song ever. He compares himself to John Gotti, God, he is Luca Brasi, his mother fucked an angel and he's immortal. Audis, Porsches and Maseratis all get mentioned. Its such a cool pop song you don't even notice at one point he sings he's so depressed he wishes someone would kill him.

The megalomania continues on Perfect Imperfection. It all begins with an incredibly infectious disco violin (synth violin?) sample that is soo good. Then Kev's off comparing himself to Forrest Gump, then says he's Michael Jackson reincarnate and channelling the spirit of Ali The Greatest. He still needs affection though and asks if it's 'ok to cry if you're dying inside?' But he has his craft perfected, he's never wrong, Drake says Gates don't bullshit and all other rappers are fake because they ain't from the ghetto in Louisiana who just take loads of drugs. Having said that Kev admits codeine helps him get by. But those other rappers never had to grind so hard to pay their lawyers yet still go to prison and have your bitch not pick up the phone whilst incarcerated.

Plug Daughter is one of the most sonically cool tracks here with it's classic minimal horror motifs. This is another mafia tale. What the fuck is a Plug daughter? Out The Mud has a backing track reminiscent of a really gentle 90s IDM track with fucking great poetic Speedy Gonzales rapping. Sometimes I think how the hell does he do that? Then he just slips back into melodic hooks like it's nothing. Sit Down has the best bass pressure this side of a No U Turn track along with really subtle haunting piano and synth stabs. Sometimes he fits more words into a tune than early Bob Dylan. The mafia theme continues. Fact and fiction collide. His Breadwinners Association Company is a bona-fide organisation but he places it in a mafia context. I'm astounded again by his rapping on this tune. He has the the best delivery in the game and has had for some time. Complaining's all mad bitches, sex, foreign cars and spending paper. It sounds like he's singing at one point 'them bitches bad but Paco ain't complaining.' I really hope Paco is another Gates alias but I think its just me mishearing again. This is why I don't read lyric sheets it takes away the mystique. Talk On Phones is a classic Wire situation. He rhymes open cases with poker faces you gotta love that. There's like a brilliant one note horror synth stab throughout as well as gloomy swirling synths that are awesome too.

Wassup With It & In My Feelings are as close as Kev gets to a slow jam. Wassup With It could be a smash hit. It's got the melodic pop goods, the only thing holding it back would be all the profanity like 2013's Midnight Run from Dj Mustard featuring Royce The Choice, Skeam & Casey Veggies ie. these two tunes are pop perfection but could never be commercial hits which is such a shame. Gates just wants a fuck with no strings. He's been tainted by past relationships he's just 'tryin to hit that pussy one time, that'd be cool' right? In My Feelings starts out like it could be a slow jam with it's 2014 version of a silky 70s vibe but it's sugar & poison. He's having a massive crack at Southern Christianity in the verse then in the chorus it's all like romantic and soft but then he's into another angry verse then back to the sugar to finish. You don't really have to guess what Pourin The Syrup's about. He's drinking the lean because he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders. Kudos to Kev again this time for rhyming famous with anus. Top that motherfuckers. Wild Ride is a plea for a threesome. Clits, eatin dick, fondling balls, pussy drippin, ass up and face down all sung with a heavenly backing track. Confusing lyric: 'Bonnie & Clyde her', what the fuck does that mean? Must look up the Urban Dictionary on that one. Makin Love is about loving the hustle not some tune about a sex romp. The narcissism continues with lyrics like 'They don't even call me Kevin no more, they call me awesome.' 'I am the way the truth and the light' and 'I am Flawless'. A final shout out to his Maserati engine and guess what he don't get tired. He must be mixing his lean with something of the amphetamine variety though because codeine makes you v tired. I should know I just took some.

Kev. He don't get tired.

Rap Mixtapes - Influx Inertia

They were counting down the days by the second at Datpiff for the release of Luca Brasi 2 by Kevin Gates and I got caught up in the anticipation too. I think I ended up downloading it in the middle of the night. I mean I didn't set the alarm or anything, it just so happened I couldn't sleep. I was looking forward to it though. I still don't get why such quality releases are free. I guess it's hard to stop the pirates so why not? Some of these free mixtapes are for sale as well. In my list of best LPs/Mixtapes of 2014 sixteen of the thirty six were given away free via Datpiff, Live Mixtapes etc. They have become such quality documents I decided to put them along side the proper album releases. I think it was Lil Wayne who started the trend of making mixtapes of such high standard. He even used to say the accompanying mixtapes released around the same time as his proper LPs were better than the official releases.

I've still got around 20 mixtapes in my 'inbox of new mixtapes' playlist that I haven't had enough time to give proper listens to. They're just the recent 2014 ones I've downloaded. A stack more await downloading but it's starting to get ridiculous. Then there are the recommended classic mixtapes as well from like the past 15 years or so. I only got into this scene in the last few years so I've got a bit of catching up to do. I went off hip-hop post Ironman for some reason. I love Ironman so it was probably Wu Tang Forever that stopped me in my rap tracks.

It's starting to get a bit like DJs who I used to see in the specialist dance record shops in the 90s who'd play 20 seconds of a track and have to decide yay or nay, right then and there. I used to think they must miss heaps of good shit especially in the hardcore/jungle scene where the best bits might not happen until 2 or 3 minutes in. Anyway I've had to say nay to Salva, Blanco Huslah Kokane and Og Maco recently so they've been deleted. They may have grown on me but I feel I have to be ruthless. I've said Yay to Kevin Gates Luca Brasi 2, Travi$ Scott's Days Before Rodeo, Zuse's Illegal Immigrant, King Louie's Soprano and YP Spoelstra's Heat Vol 3. Those five artists have good track records though. So once they get the yay they have to await proper evaluation at a later date. Then we've got "the I dunno?" category which is kind of a purgatory for mixtapes. Starlito's Theories, WhoKid Woody's R.E.A.L, Archive Nation a compilation hosted by Lil Silk, AD's Comptonfornia 2 and Dej Loaf's Sell Sole all sound alright but they have to wait until their time comes after the Yays have had their proper listening time. By the time I get around to "the I dunnos" though a whole new batch of mixtapes will be vying for my attention as well as proper rap releases (like Starlito's Black Sheep Don't Grin which sounds pretty good!) and non rap zone releases (The Moon Wiring Club parcel finally arrived). So they may not get a second chance. Hey they are just the ones I've given a go! Still waiting in the wings we've got Archibald Slim, Cheif Keef, Boogie, Future, Sauce Twinz, The Guys, Goldlink, YG, Lil Herb, A$AP Ferg and the list goes on and on some more.

As good as Bullet?

So I can't even give proper reviews to Kevin Gates (sounds good so far, a bit of a cleaner sound but I dunno if it's up there with his past 3 classics: The Luca Brasi Story, Stranger Than Fiction or By Any Means. I mean that's a pretty hard task right there innit?) or Zuse (I don't know if it's as good as Bullet yet). I have finally given King Louie's Soprano a good listen and can say it's the goods. More like a trad rap companion to the more futuristic Tony. That's as deep as I can go at this point.

More good shit from King Louie.

It all reminds me a bit of that story (Sartre maybe?) of the guy who decided to read an entire library but by the time he died he was only up to the authors beginning with the letter E or something like that. This is just a microcosm of the information overload age. I have other interests too (er..well other types of music obviously, footy, wildlife documentaries, philosophy &....well that's about it really) but....

Swamped, inundated, overwhelmed!

Best Of 2014 - Albums & Mixtapes

Pom Pom - Ariel Pink
Heavenly West Coast pop hits, delirious goth, over wrought glam, funk, glitter scuzz rock and demented bubblegum psych (sometimes all within the same song). I can't possibly write another word on the subject.

Black Portland - Young Thug & Bloody Jay
Atlanta's stellar nutcase duo make mental rap classic. Demented euphoria.

You Might Also Like - eMMplekz
More funny shit and mental absurdity ranted by Baron Mordant over some of Nick's most accomplished trax to date.

Unfidelity/Four Track Mind - Ekoplekz

Two classic double LPs in one year! Maybe Four Track Mind just pips Unfidelity at the post but these albums are inseparable as they came from the same recording sessions, I think. Nick Edwards reigns in his wayward machines like never before to achieve stunning results.

Oxymoron - Schoolboy Q
The title says it all. Killah state of the art sex, drugs and rap 2014 stylee. Oxymoron not only refers to Oxycontin addiction but to the dichotomy of Schoolboy Q's being ie. trying to be a good dad but being a bad ass gangsta.

Reconsider Lounge/Session Man - Rangers
I thought they'd vanished but praise the lord here they are again twice! This time in snippet and snapshot mode on Reconsider Lounge, a bit like they were on 2010's classic Suburban Tours. Session Man is almost like stoner jamz but in a Rangers universe. OMG these are guitar albums! Remember them? It's all about past pasts, past presents, past futures and the present present and future past, present and future. Memoredelia! The talented Joe Knight is a star. Why aren't Rangers as big as Coldplay?

By Any Means - Kevin Gates
King Kev's got the best voice in the game and his flow's incredible. An intimate insight into Kev's life. From being dirt poor with no electrical, being incarcerated, having children and being signed to major record label Atlantic. His life's a movie. Louisiana trap at it's finest.

Gangsta Stripper Music 2 - Beatking
He is the Beat King and he's had a sterling year. This was the Club God doing his Houston ratchet thang which is the best mix of 10s rap and 90s rave these ears have ever heard. Crank this sucker up to 11!

$hmopcity - Kool John
The most underrated mixtape of the year. Bay Area ratchet from the HBK Gang that was all killah no filler. Kool John makes the best HBK Gang recording to date. It's party time, are you putting on 10 Summers or $hmopcity? It's a no brainer.

Underground Tape Cassette Music - Gangsta Boo & Beatking
Fucking great collaboration from 666 Mafia's legendary Gangsta Boo and Club Godzilla Beatking. 80s electro & fucked up 90s rave flavas clash with 2014 Texan Ratchet and 90s creepin Memphis shyt. Rewind!

Life After Death Row - Boosie Bad Azz
Lil Boosie gets out of prison and makes a hell of a poignant mixtape about the experience. True Detective had nothing on this Louisiana rapper's gritty reality.

Tony - King Louie
Gangsta tales from Chicago set to mini cinematic synth symphonies. Louie's a King, a God, a Don and they call him Tony after Tony Soprano. Futuristic sex, drugs, violence and megalomania!

Under The Skin OST - Mica Levi
Best soundtrack since _________. Intensely sinister, harrowing and still. A bit like Bernard Hermann if he'd had a stroke and was wasted on painkillaz. Who'd have ever thought I'd enjoy something by Mica Levi? The world is a strange place.

Beautiful Pimp II - Rome Fortune
Atlanta's one of a kind suave space age rapper makes a sequel better than the original. Cito is on the beat throughout the entire mixtape which was a great move.

Heat Vol. 1 & 2 - YP Spoelstra
Two volumes of choice 2014 ratchet from California's HBK Gang. YP's giving Mustard a run for his money and he's just put out a 3rd Volume, bloody hell!

Leporine Pleasure Gardens - Moon Wiring Club LP 
Hallucinatory, phantasmal and lysergical. This is Moon Wiring Club severed from their beats and it's probably the closest sonic equivalent to dropping acid I've ever heard. Flashbacks man!

Torridon Gate - Howlround
Who'd have thunk a 24 minute recording of a garden gate would be this enjoyable?

R.O.C. - IX Tab
A trip into creepy electronic zones where funny things happen.

A Que Fresco - Que & Mike Fresh
Like Speedy Gonzales, the subject in one of their songs, these guys don't mess about. This is 2014 rap at it's most buoyant and audacious. A pop triumph.

Butterfly Effect - Shinishi Ataobe 
Some of the most enjoyably serene ambient dub tech I've ever heard. There's also some slightly noisier dub tech trax in a Basic Channel stylee (Ataobe once released an EP on the Chain Reaction label). Hypnotic and beautiful.

From Out Here - The Advisory Circle
Perhaps their most fully realised LP to date. A musical interzone somewhere between idyllic and peculiar. An album that plays tricks with your memory.

ALSO REALLY LIKED
My Krazy Life - YG
Monster - Future
Fearful Wiggings - Dave Graney
The Power And The Glory - Perc
Bullet - Zuse
The Mobb Tape - Zmoney
Wet 2 - Skipper
Tha Tour Part 1 - Rich Gang
Leporine Pleasure Gardens cd - Moon Wiring Club
Audio Rehab Vol.1 - Various
Definition Audio Presents Vol.1 - Various
Oculus OST - The Newton Brothers
Pavilion - Panabrite
Influkz - Ekoplekz
We Invented The Bop 2 - Various
8 of The Moon Ballades Series - Motion Sickness Of Time Travel

CATEGORY OF IT'S OWN
Benji - Sun Kil Moon
20 years since I've listened to anything by Mark Kozelek but I couldn't ignore this album's cult groundswell on the interweb. Holy shit things have changed since Red House Painters Ocean Beach (well mostly, he is still singing about his mum) ie. Mark's way more hokey now, getting back to his Ohio roots. There are no Johnny Marr-esque guitar licks or 4AD flourishes of sound here. This is bare bones recording wise. Less is more, keep it simple and let the words paint the pictures. Who would have thought he could get more morose? Well he has! This is a stunning work of a master songwriter. The words just pour out of him unfiltered and somehow it works. Benji is an insight into a tragedy strewn life and a morbid mind like no other. Although he finally makes a joke on the last track. One does also wonder how much of this is possibly black humour like when he's asking you to think of mass murderers when you're feeling happy. I've always thought he was pretty funny I must admit.

WHAT HAPPENED???
Rustie - Green Language
Peaking Lights - Cosmic Logic
Young Thug - 1017 Thug 2
Skrillex - Recess
DJ Mustard - 10 Summers 

ON THE FENCE
Mr Mitch - Parallel Memories
Apparently this is connected to grime. I have no emotional investment in grime so it doesn't bother me. Like last year's album from Logos I didn't even know it was somehow comin from grime. I just liked the tunes. When I first heard Parallel Memories I thought it was like an electronica LP from 1994. Hey 94 was a great year for electronica and it's pretty good....
Vessel - Punish, Honey
Daft Industrial throwback of the worst kind or kinda cool weird noise? I dunno.

TOO LATE
Kevin Gates - Luca Brasi 2 (Only got it yesterday)
Starlito - Black Sheep Don't Grin (As above)
YP Spoelstra - Heat Vol. 3 (As above above)

TOTALLY MISSED IT
Ian Crause - The Vertical Axis. I noticed this in Simon's list. I assume it is he of the great Disco Inferno. I totally did not realise he'd released an album this year as I don't read music magazines anymore and only skim the online one (you can probably guess what that may be). I think I bought one issue of The Wire this year. I've gone from being a chap in the 90s who wouldn't miss an issue of The Wire to someone now who can barely give a toss. Sure things change in 20 + years but who'd have thought so many bad writers would be employed there. Sure the music scene's not the same either but there is still great music being made. The evidence is right here in my list but I wonder how many of the above recordings even got coverage in The Wire? The thing is I probably wouldn't want to read it anyway unless it was written by Mark Fisher. Anyway back to The Vertical Axis, fuck I'm looking forward to hearing that. Mark Fisher probably reviewed it. This is actually from 2013.

TELEVISION
True Detective
Girls
Happy Valley
Orange Is The New Black

BOOKS
Ghosts Of My Life - Mark Fisher
Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story Of Modern Pop - Bob Stanley (sure I got this for xmas 2013 but fuck it took me 4 months of 2014 to read it ie. many pages)

STUPID
Ripping off Young Thug is dumb. It's like ripping off Mark E Smith ie. he's so idiosyncratic if you're copying him it's so obviously not you. It makes you an instant joke.

LIFE'S TOO SHORT
To bang on about artists that are dull, overrated or just plain shite like blanco husalah kokane, salva, fka twigs, beyonce, ben frost, 1001 Young Thug wannabes, popcaan and whoever else innit?

There's only one Young Thug (he's on the left).

*OTHER YEARS
2011
2012
2013

Best Tunes Of 2014

Forever Bloody - Young Thug & Bloody Jay
Low - Juicy J feat. Young Thug, N Minaj...
Lifestyle - Young Thug, Rich Homie & Birdman
2 On - Tinashe feat. Schoolboy Q
Studio - Schoolboy Q feat. BJ The Chicago Kid
I'm Comin Home - Lil Boosie
Hunter - Total Control
Florida Water - Young Thug & Bloody Jay
Turn Down For What - DJ Snake & Lil Jon
Club Goin Up On A Tuesday (+DJ Snake remix & Drake version) - I Love Makonnen
Area 51 - Theo Nasa 
One Spliff - Hodgson
Gladiator - RS4
Kuang EP - Lee Gamble
Shake It Off - Taylor Swift
Flesh War - Total Control
Everything Was Legendary With Robert - Dave Graney
Amnesia - Kevin Gates
No Tears - Jeezy feat. Future
'til we pass out - Raven Felix
Danny Glover Remix - Young Thug feat. N Minaj
No Type - Rae Sremmurd
No Love - August Alsina feat. N Minaj
CoCo - O.T. Genasis
Don't Know - Kevin Gates
Pole Sex EP - Beatking
Fuckin Wit Me - Tinashe (Mustard On The Beat)

* I tried to make sure these were singles, songs with videos, virtual singles or promo singles in some form or another otherwise I would have had like 17 Ariel Pink tunes and like 40 from Beatking & HBK Gang. Those songs are on the albums in the upcoming best of 2014 albums and mixtapes list. Then again I guess anything on i-tunes or Beatport is technically a single, whatever!

*No Type by Rae Sremmurd gets a nod for the incredible vibe created by producer Mike Will Made It (of Pour It Up fame and the above No Tears) and the singing from one of the duo but the other guy is such a Young Thug wannabe he ruins it just a tiny bit for me, but it's soo good.....I can let it slide.

Rap Avalanche

A Quick Squizz At Recent Rap and R&B

Just when I was starting to think 'gee it was all happening earlier this year in the rap, ratchet, trap and R&B zones, but what's happened?' I was going back to hardcore, jungle and speed garage etc. (Reynolds has more on breakbeat garage here, loving that Ruff Da Menace track 2 F In Ruff (So What)). Then a bunch of new releases appear! Mostly free mixtapes but some albums too.

Now this is something to get excited about. Houston's Beatking, creator of 2014's best mixtape Gangsta Stripper Music 2, teams up with Three Six Mafia's Gangsta Boo for Underground Cassette Tape Music. Who would have expected this collaboration? Gangsta Boo & Skinny Pimp did feature on Gangsta Stripper Music 2 though. Gangsta Boo along with The Scarecrow aka Lord Infamous were my favourite 666 Mafia rappers. Female rapping really suited that 90s Memphis style. It's funny because Beatking is one of the few rappers who sonically doesn't owe an obvious debt to Triple Six Mafia like so many current artists do. This is like Beatking goes on a 90s Memphis ghostride with Boo as his guide ie. this is some creepin shit. It's more Boo's game this one. Beatking's rave-esque Club Godzilla side is toned down slightly here but it shows he's versatile and willing to experiment. Gangsta Boo is in fine form here and hey I'm a sucker for anything reminiscent of the Memphis rap underground from the mid 90s.

Next is Ain't Nothin Bigger Than The B. King Kev turns up with Bread Winner Kane on this collaborative effort. Kevin Gates plays the sidekick to Kane on this mixtape which is weird and a bit wrong as he's the King. It's a bit like Elvis playing sidekick to Barry Mannilow. I don't think Kane is Kev's heir but there's plenty of kicks here although this tape is long and I mean bloody long like a Swans album. I was thinkin gee this tune MYB is great and a little familiar and it turns out it's from Kev's very own classic Stranger Than Fiction from last year. I don't really understand how mixtapes work, like how do they get paid, why are old songs reused? Who are these hood rich people? etc. Perhaps we could all edit this one down by about half.

Tinashe's album proper has dropped (what I'm sayin that now?!) after last year's mixtape Black Water. Aquarius contains the choice hit single 2 On. The thing is there aren't any other DJ Mustard productions here which was initially disappointing but I'm gettin used to it now. We've got some luscious tunes on this album and some that stray a little too close to the overtly but slightly bland pop side. She's at her best when it's post-millennial R&B, better than Beyonce and almost up there with Cassie. Tinashe's still at street level and is givin us the real edge that we want on All Hands On Deck which is v Mustardy ratchet. On one tune it sounds like Dave Gilmore shows up doing an absurd guitar solo(?).

Rome Fortune's back. He has the best album/mixtape covers in the game and this cover is probably his best so far. I'm totally lovin that beard too. For this mixtape he takes an opposite approach to his previous tape Beautiful Pimp 2 where he used only one producer, Cito, for it's entire 11 trax. On Small World he's got every man and his dog on production duties including Fout Tet(?). It's a testament to Rome's vision that this all hangs together so well and might even be as good as Beautiful Pimp II. A metal riff shows up on one tune and strangely doesn't seem that out of place. The pace has picked up a notch or two on this tape. There's even a song, ie. with singing not just rapping, Friends Maybe, which is a collaborative jam with I Love Makonnen. Rome Fortune is Atlanta's most intergalactically smooth dude, still doin his own thing, you know, haunted, intimate and whispered raps combined with trippy future hip hop.

*Haven't checked out the new ones for Gunplay, Lil B(?), Rich Gang, Key! & FKI, Que & Mike Fresh, The Church or Billy Idol yet. They all came at once! Well maybe I wasn't paying attention.

What I'm Diggin!

Antipodean reissue of the year without doubt! The long out of print Derry Legend from 1989. The best band to come out of New Zealand in my book. This was originally released on Flying Nun!? Although they seem to get written out of Flying Nun's history and most histories of NZ music actually. More on this later ie. a full write up, when I've fully convalesced. Check out these previous posts for Axemen genius.

Don't know much about this dude but this is some of 2014s best rap/ratchet. Apparently there's another volume.

King Kev's 2014 By Any Means is not as immediate as his Stranger Than Fiction from last year but I'm startin to really dig this a lot. What a fuckin talent! That voice! What a badass!

Lovin this. What a team Bloody Jay & Young Thug. Bloody Jay has a new solo one out as well, I can't keep up.

My favourite LP to listen to while me and my dog sit by the fire with our feet up. Hey I'm an adult! .......well sometimes.

Not Really Diggin

10s Hardcore continuum soundz. Hey I really enjoy Kid Lib but the rest I dunno?

???

A new Rustie album how excitement! Now, I'm not so sure. It's early doors yet though.

Kevin Gates ...Again

More Kev! Anything that mentions Patrick Swayze but spelt wrong has gotta be good. Add in Whoopie Goldberg and it's pure gold. I find this hilarious and don't even understand it.

Well this one reminded me of Lick My Nuts (below) which was made by Kev's collaborator here Juicy J . Kev tellin it like it is. He is the new King right?

Lord Infamous, DJ Paul & Juicy J - the early 90s Memphis rappers/producers who are more influential today than they ever have been.

4.30 AM .....they just keep comin from King Kev and there's way way more check out these as well.

This one from 2013 as well

I think he's been in prison but he's managed to
 release this 2014 jam. He's on a roll.

Kevin Gates/Beatking/Dizzy Wright

Only just heard this track from last year and OMFG! How good is it? I know what to call it - Magnificent!

Now this is some tripped out ratchet that seems to have gone over the edge. What about that absurd drum machine. 2014 Digital psychosis!

Anthemic tune from Wright's 2014 mini album State of Mind.

True Detective Trax

Very surprised to hear this tune at the end of a True Detective episode. They don't make em like this anymore and actually they hardly made them like this at all. Sludgy psychedelia. My old band used to do a cover of this but we couldn't match this vibe one bit. Untouchable and bloody weird and bloody great.

Then there was this at the end of episode 4 and it fitted perfectly with the intense mayhem that had just occurred on screen. It made me remember how excellent Grinderman really are/were? I think what gave Grinderman their fresh new edge and the the feeling of it being a separate entity from The Bad Seeds was that it was Nick Cave's first time playing guitar (I think) on a record. They were like a brand new band despite containing four Bad Seeds members.

Loved hearing this one at the end of episode 7. I'm not really sure of its thematic connection but who cares? This is the great classic version of Lungs from his Townes Van Zandt LP from 1969. It doesn't get much better than this!

The music person on the show must have had fun putting these tunes on the show, well in the end credits actually. Funnily enough I can't stand the theme tune. It's like some z grade attempt at a Nancy & Lee song. What was this band thinking 'Our contribution to music is going to be a way lesser version of a classic duo, that's the best we can do.' Well you know what don't bloody bother, we don't need to hear it! They could have got, I dunno, Mick Harvey and Anita Lane to do the theme or just use an original Nancy & Lee track. Willie Nelson & Dolly Parton, how good what that have been? 13th Floor Elevators' Kingdom of Heaven would have done just fine. Aren't there a bunch of great musicians from Louisiana they could have used? Kevin Gates and Lil Boosie in the rap world and I'm sure there's some great folk/country musicians! Anyway it was great hear these three classics in the finest show of 2014 and one of the greatest shows on the telly ever.