Tyler, The Creator - Wolf

Wolf is the third album by Odd Future founder and, I suppose leader - Tyler, The Creator. It is a solid record that prominently develops the rapper's style and direction, not only as a lyricist but mainly as a producer. Goblin, for all its entertaining malice, wallows in darkness. Wolf expands on Tyler's off-key production style, adding more colours to his intrinsically different yet instantly recognisable track design.

Track-wise, the album begins proper with the howling "Jamba" and the lurching "Cowboy" (edit: is that an orgiastic moan in the background of "Jamba" or a girl shouting "Wolf!"? Ha!). Tyler's lyrics are still rather obtuse and somewhat disturbing, but the sonic variety of the track structures really makes Wolf an easier and more varied listen than its predecessor. Other stand outs are "Domo23" (which sounds like it was leftover from Goblin), "48", "Colossus" (which reminds me of Eminem's struggles with fame and idolisation), the three-in-one medley of "PartyIsntOver / Campfire / Bimmer", and "Rusty".

That album cover, though? We ain' gon talk 'bout that.

Action Bronson - SAAAB Stories

You better slow down baby! SAAAB Stories is the excellent debut EP by NY rapper Action Bronson, which has been out since June 2013 (holy mother!). I really need to pick up the pace with my reviews! Action is probably one of my favourite "modern" rappers that have come about within the last few years or so, and the SAAAB EP is a shining example of everything that makes his music so great, but tied up in a neat little package.

None of the tracks (except for one) are particularly long, and the content is quite fluid in nature, much like Bronson's flow, allowing the whole journey to gel into one big trip, kinda like a short mix tape. As per usual with an Action Bronson release, Big Body Bes guests on a track, offering more of an aggressive form of hyping than anything relating to an actual verse. The tracks "Triple Backflip", and "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" are monumental examples of the talent on display here, but my favourite of the release has to be "Alligator", with its bizarre chorus and densely introspective, in-the-feels ending. 

Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered.

This latest Kendrick Lamar record is a strange collection of what is supposed to be left over tracks and ideas related to the rapper's previous record, To Pimp A Butterfly. Musically, it has a lot in common with the beats and instrumentation of that album, but as these songs are demos, there is a welcome rougher feel to things. At first the vocals seem a little lo-fi, but every falls into place quickly and the slight drop in quality feels like a welcome addition rather than a curse.

Personally, I prefer this to the album itself. I mean, for a "collection of tracks" in such a way that is usually a proper good ol' barrel scrape for most artists, these are pretty fucking decent. I've never really been that much into Kendrick Lamar, but hopefully this release will help change all that. 

Obie Trice - Ass

Man, this is fucking awful, even for Obie Trice. This is some Lil' Wayne level shit right here. Seriously, how is it possible for someone to fall off so hard? Granted, the relentless pursuit of the $$$ leads some artists by the nose through the trends of the month / year / decade, and that is the only explanation I have for this absolute farce of a single.

Ten years ago this guy was sharing records with Dre, Eminem, Nate Dogg et al. It is sad to see his output reduced to this boring, lowest common denominator trap bullshit. Next!

50 Cent - Before I Self Destruct

Before I Self Destruct starts off promising as hell before falling off in the second half, gradually getting worse and worse until it closes with one of the worst songs ever written; "Could've Been You" parades out R Kelly like a secret ace card, but when the dickhead is literally crooning about smelling his own shit (no joke) in the chorus, all credibility goes out the fucking window. Shame he couldn't smell the shit coming outta his mouth when he recorded this fucking farce of a track.

Anyway, I've jumped right to the end, so let's back up a bit. We have a few stand out tracks, especially towards the beginning of the album. There's also a half decent collab with Eminem on "Psycho" (wow look, Em is singing about being a mentalist, how original!) but other than that, this thing is as shit and pointless as the movie 50 Cent made with the same name. Kudos to the record title though, as this thing definitely makes me want to force dynamite down my throat and light the fuse. 

Insane Clown Posse - The Amazing Jeckel Brothers

The Amazing Jeckel Brothers is easily the weakest of the original set of joker's cards. In fact, I really don't have that much to say about this album at all. It has a few stand out tracks, but for the most part it is just irritating filler and a bunch of shit that just goes on way, waaayyy too long ("I Want My Shit" being a prime example). There's a terrible selection of "metal" songs too, and all the guest appearances from "big name stars" such as ODB and Snoop Dogg do absolutely nothing to buy this record any credit. In fact, the contributions seem almost stock in nature, especially from Mr. Dogg, and cheapen the entire experience further.

"I Stab People" and "Mad Professor" are the only tracks worth noting, as is the instrumentation of both of the Jeckel tracks, and that's literally all, folks. This was terrible in 1999 and it's still terrible now. You probably don't need me to tell you that, unless you have twisted hair and a penchant for Monster energy drinks. Avoid.

Gorillaz - Gorillaz

The Gorillaz self-titled record was the first album that I ever owned. Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory (unfortunately) holds the title for first record ever bought, but Gorillaz was the first thing that I seriously jammed, and it was instrumental in developing my interest in music as a serious hobby. Back in the day I had this terrible transparent blue Aiwa tape walkman / radio combo, and I played the livin' fuckin' guts out of my crappy tape copy of this.

Most people are surprised I love Gorillaz so much simply because I can't fucking abide Blur. But, what drew me to Gorillaz first album was the thick dubby aspect underneath the pop sensibilities of the band's songs; the thick spine of bass and chunky, dusty drum programming. The dirty, mechanical rumbling holding together the melancholic "Tomorrow Comes Today" is a perfect example of the grimey, almost-VHS-like vibe of the rhythm section on this album.

Then there's, obviously, "Clint Eastwood", with all that bagged up sunshine, and the bizarre first appearance of Del Tha Funky Homosapien, the rabid "Punk", the epic "Sound Check (Gravity)" and the downright fucking awful "Latin Simone". From the raucious rock of "M1 A1" to the introspective, arcade machine tomfoolery of "Double Bass", the whole thing is dripping in dirty dub vibes, a trend which unfortunately did not continue on later Gorillaz recordings (despite the fucking glorious Spacemonkeys spin-off dub remix album, Laika Come Home).

Don't forget, kids - it's the music that we choose.

Insane Clown Posse - The Ringmaster

The Ringmaster has gotta be a contender for one of my favorite ICP records. It marks the point where the group really start to find their feet. As much as I love Carnival of Carnage, it is a bit sketchy and the quality of tracks here far surpasses anything off that album, not to mention the Beverly Kills EP. I also think it's one of the more under-rated jokers cards, if not the most under-rated of the whole bunch. The Ringmaster is definitely the underdog of the original set of Dark Carnival troublemakers.

There is also a level of "silliness" that is missing from later albums, and the song production has a much more regular hip-hop feel than the unique direction that the band would quickly cement as their own. Don't get me wrong, there are carnival vibes aplenty, but the overall sound is much dryer and songs about Detroit still number strong. "Murder Go Round" is a classic opener, and shortly afterward is the hat-trick of "Mr. Johnson's Head", "Southwest Song" and "Get Off Me, Dog!"; three of ICP's best cuts back to back, again followed by another banger, "Who Asked You?".

It kinda falls off a bit after that but "House Of Mirrors" and "Bugz On My Nugz" are absolutely amazing songs, especially the latter, which always has me in peals of laughter. The closing track, "The Ringmaster's Word" is a twisted work of sampling. I sometimes wish ICP had continued with this earlier sound, I guess if nothing else they might have a bit more credibility (as much as you can give a group like ICP, at least).

I've lost the disc on my physical copy of this so I don't get to hear it that often anymore, but it's always nice to come back to for a trip through that old-school Detroit smog.

Death Grips - Exmilitary

Exmilitary is the debut mixtape/record/whatever from seminal noise-meets-rap maniacs Death Grips. I can't believe this thing is five years old, especially considering I've been planning on reviewing it since I started this website! But yeah - I don't think the hip hop world was prepared for Death Grips, and neither were the legions of fans from outside of that sphere; would-be converts sidling on over due to this group, and this mixtape.

I first came across this on Jay Randall's Grindcore Karaoke website as a free download, and was instantly hooked on the super-weird, trashy mash up of noise electronics and hip hop music. To me it sounded like ODB meets Merzbow at a Scorn show, and this was before the gimmicks and the controversy; all you had in regards to Death Grips was this puzzling record sleeve, and bangers like "Guillotine", "Takyon (Death Yon)", "5d" leading to "Through the Walls" and "Blood Creepin".

An iconic and essential piece of modern hip hop, if you've not already heard it.

The LaFontaines - Class

(Words by Burra)

I was recommended this band to check out, and having known literally nothing about them I was interested to hear what was going on. The LaFontaines are a very difficult band to pigeonhole; I'm finding myself presented with rapping, smooth sounding vocals, riffs, indie guitar licks, lovely guitar tones amongst really big sounding anthems. What a mental combination! On paper this shouldn't work, it really shouldn't... however these guys have seemed to pull it off nicely. I'm hearing multiple genres at play throughout the album - even throughout a single track! But, I'm finding it's very refreshing to listen to something so different; something that has a surprise around every corner. 

The standout track on this album for me is definitely "Castles"; if I had to sum this particular track up, it sounds a mixture of all the sounds I've just mentioned, but with a slightly anthemic vibe, and to me, what sounds like it could be a You Me At Six or Deaf Havana-kinda sound with a cheeky rap thrown in for a good measure. I'm finding myself hitting repeat on this one. However, the track that follows, "King", is almost straight up hip hop; such a confusing album in terms of direction and flow, and as I say, this really shouldn't work, but I find myself quite drawn to it. I think from a marketing perspective this band has something great going on too. as they can kinda squeeze into very varied bills and lineups, and I should imagine the band draws an extremely varied fan-base too. 

Overall though, it's a ridiculously strong album and I'd definitely recommend a listen to this to see for yourselves what you make of it - it really is an odd mix, but a great album! For me the album highlights are "Castles" "Class" and "All She Knows".

Esham - Closed Casket

Closed Casket is surely the definitive Esham record – I love absolutely everything about it; the sound, the lyrics, the samples, even the artwork (for some reason). Closed Casket captures a slice of Detroit “suicidalist” lifestyle in the smog of the early 90s, during that perfect period when Esham was still dank as fuck but not dropping references to the man down below every 20 seconds. 

I tend to categorise Esham into two categories – a.) when he goes hard, and b.) when he goes silly. Closed Casket falls entirely into the first camp, and is nowhere near as wet as records such as Mail Dominance or that Gothom City nonsense. All the beats are bangers, the bass is spot on, rumbling nicely along for a fat backbone. The production is lightyears ahead of the previous record, KKKill The Fetus, but still retains that grime and almost, how can I put it, copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copied-cassette sound. 

This kinda gets lumped in with the horrorcore thing as Esham is associated with ICP and all that lot, but any fan of old school hip hop would do themselves a service by checking this out. 

Stand-out tracks: “The Wicketshit Will Never Die”, “My Homie Got Shot”, “Can’t Take It Wit Cha”, “Chatty Ass Nigga”, “Flatline”, “2 Dollahoe”, “I’ll Be Glad When You Dead”. 

The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free

Widely known to have been the album that propelled Mike Skinner’s The Streets project to international recognition, spawning two charting singles (one of which went to number 1 in the UK); the group’s sophomore effort is a concept album based around a few weeks/months in the life of Mike. A day in the life of a geezer, finally recognised as a full blown record. A Grand Don’t Come For Free is one big story, each track crucial to the development of the plot, something which I don’t think most people who have heard “Fit But You Know It” or “Dry Your Eyes” are aware of.

Basically, Mike’s life is going down the shitter. He’s lost a grand’s worth of savings, and things are a mess, but then he meets this total cutie called Simone and over the course of the album, falls in love with her whilst speculating continuously which of his “mates” stole his money. In a twist, Simone turns out to be a bit of a bitch and kicks him out, causing Mike to contemplate cheating on her whilst on a boys holiday in the sun, but when he gets back there’s another twist when Scott reveals that she’s been cheating on him all along with Mike’s pal Dan. Shit, what a drama. The album then presents two separate endings, one of Mike smoking heroin and drinking super Tenants, or one of Scott fixing Mike’s TV, finding an envelope equating to £1000 cash which had fallen down the back of the broken unit. The end.

It’s all a bit daft, but I think what it originally tried to achieve was to expand on the goal of Original Pirate Material, presenting real life “street level” goings on through the medium of garage and hip hop, instead of promoting an unrealistic façade of wealth and excess, which you have to admit a lot of rap music does.

Probably the first Lines In Wax post to feature a UK top 40 number 1 hit. Give it a go. It’s nice like, innit.

Tyler The Creator - Goblin

This has gotta be one of my favourite rap/hip hop discoveries of the past year or so. Granted, this came out in 2011 but I’m not exactly crawling all over the modern rap scene (because as Eminem so eloquently put it – it’s a landfill). I heard enough episodes of Charlie Sloth on Radio 1 whilst at work to convince myself that hip hop was welllllll and truly dead and anything post-2000 was not even worth farting at (play that “German Whip” song ONE MORE FUCKING TIME and I might end myself). The main question about modern hip hop for me isn’t “Who is the most vomit-inducing wigger spacktard; Charlie Sloth or Tim Westwood?”, it’s more along the lines of why do hip hop fans stand for the dump trucks of shit piling into their favourite genre? To paraphrase Immortal Technique, each new song that comes out is another “candy ass nigga with a candy ass beat”.

But then again we are looking at the same type of people who idolize Lil Wayne but hate Death Grips, and that says it all really. With that mind set it’s easier to appreciate why top rappers like Tyler The Creator tend to stay in a semi-underground world; as the man himself professes, he’s selling out shows but sleeping on couches afterward. Goblin is a dark record too, and I guess that appeals to me even more, because I don’t want no “candy ass beats” in my raps, yo. All throughout Goblin Tyler struggles with (possibly fictional or otherwise) several recurring characters and alter egos, which makes the whole thing quite confusing on the first listen, but you get used to it. I’m still not entirely sure who or what Tron Cat is, but I’m digging it.

“Yonkers” is now one of my favourite rap songs ever. “Transylvania” falls dangerously close to the stylings of the horrorcore genre, despite protests from Tyler that he has nothing to do with the genre. But any song that starts it’s chorus with “I’m Dracula, bitch / Ain’t got a problem smackin’ a bitch” is a rap classic in my books. Hip hop seems to be the only genre of music (other than slam death metal) that can keep getting away with extreme misogyny, even in today’s namby pampy “you can’t say that” world.

Frank Ocean pops up a few times (most notably on “She”), which is great, because I like the guy in small doses. To me he seems like the Nate Dogg of the Odd Future crowd, adding a well needed sung chorus now and then to Tyler’s dark and puzzling world. All in all though, and I know I’ve kinda gone off topic a bit on this one, but Goblin is a brilliant rap record that I would recommend to  anyone who likes rap music and who has an ounce of common sense. Kanye fucking West this is not.

Earl Sweatshirt - Doris

Every now and then it's great to hear a rapper who doesn't rely heavily on endless taboo subject matter to fill his verses. Granted, perhaps I was a little burnt out on the excess of hip hop, as I was listening to Necro's The Sexorcist a lot alongside Doris, and I'm not exactly saying that this Odd Future member's solo outfit is clean like a Will Smith album, but it is admittedly refreshing all the same.

Doris, being produced by Tyler the Creator, sounds pretty fuckin' good. Earl Sweatshirt's tracks seem to hold a stoned elegance to them, particularly "Hive" which is like what gangsta rap would have sounded like if it was invented in an Amsterdam coffeeshop. "Sunday" is also a great ode somewhat in part to weed smoking, even if Frank Ocean's contributions aren't the greatest. Vocal contributions from Tyler the Producer (see what I did there?) on "Sasquatch" are always welcome, and RZA from Wu Tang guesting on the excellent "Molasses" is a nice little suprise towards the end of the record.

The Streets - Original Pirate Material

This is one of my all time favourite albums. In fact, there's a few Streets records in my all time favourites, but this one has got to be the best, IMO. In my youth I found The Streets' quirky raps about everyday life rather amusing, and in my maturity (err... LOL) I have discovered whole new deeper social commentaries within them, as well as a greater, more profound love for the instrumentation itself.

Mike Skinner signed to Locked On and started this debut off the success of "Has It Come To This?", which I believe the label released before commissioning an album, but I could be wrong. It's rare that UK garage or jungle stuff bridges into the UK charts or into the worldwide hip hop environs, so I think a lot of people were surprised with the initial success of this record back on it's release - especially considering it doesn't fall into the usual trappings of rap subject matter.  

"Turn The Page" is one of the best intro songs ever - a 3 minute or so constant flow of epic lyrical prose. "Don't Mug Yourself" is the daft as fuck lead single, "Too Much Brandy" is a brilliant ode to overdoing it on the substances, "The Irony Of It All" (a parody on the prohibition of cannabis) is still one of my favourite songs of all time and "Let's Push Things Forward" is a profound message on the state of the music industry as a whole. To top it off, there's my favourite song, "Same Old Thing", which is about the monotony of everyday life. There's only one iffy track, "It's Too Late", which is a bit lovey-dovey, but other than that every single last track is absolute solid, even the instrumental break. 

Hard to beat, Original Pirate Material is an absolute gem. Easily one of the best rap records of all time, if not one of the best records of all time, regardless of genre. Give it a goose.

Esham - KKKill The Fetus

I’ve really been digging Esham recently. Well, I’ve always loved this guy (one of the few positive things to come out of my teenage obsession with ICP) but I discovered that a whole bunch of his albums are streaming on Spotify, which is absolutely great news because a ton of his early works contained a pile of uncleared sampling and are therefore seemingly forever confined to the “out of print” section of music industry hell. Asides from downloading some awful torrent files or picking up an overpriced CD when it sprang up on eBay or Discogs, Youtube was the only way to really hear these old Esham gems. Until now.

I’m sure this sample-thievery will catch up with The Boogeyman sooner or later though (edit: Closed Casket, my favourite Esham record, has already disappeared off Spotify). KKKill The Fetus is a close second though, in degrees of “Tha Wicket Shit”. Perhaps unsurprisingly, KKKill The Fetus is a dark and somewhat vulgar hip hop record that gives off puzzling overtones of violence and misogyny. This is acid rap after all, but I fear sometimes Esham’s message is clouded in an attempt to be shocking and offensive; in his early work, at least. The title-track is a perfect example, what should indicate a full support of a woman’s choice to terminate or not becomes a hamfisted hatefuck of an attack against the black lower class, and seems almost to glorify or even revel in the actual process of killing a fetus. Granted, Esham can say what the fuck he likes – it’s his album – but I’m getting mixed messages here.

If you’ve not heard Esham before this older material can be pretty abrasive compared to most hip hop (and no, hipsters; not in the way that Death Grips does it). The entire ICP sound can be attributed to “Game Of Death”featuring Mastamind. To be honest, the similarities here are uncanny. “Game Of Death” could easily have been on one of the first ICP records. It’s easy to see how Esham has turned bitter towards the duo in recent years, as they basically built their success off of his and his peer’s backs.

Nevertheless, this is a pillar in the history of underground hip hop. Without this record there’d may well be no Eminem, and most definitely no Insane Clown Posse.

KKKlick the Button!

D12 - Fight Music

"Fight Music" is probably one of my favourite singles off the D12 album Devil's Night, as it incorporates a much harder edge to it. When I was a wee lad the rockier guitar parts of this track helped me get into D12, and whilst it turned out that a majority of their songs don't actually sound like this, it helped plant the seed, and after the strength of the "Purple Pills" (or "Hills", as I first heard it) single as well, really cemented my D12 fandom.

I don't wanna perpetuate a 12-year-old-white-girl stereotype, but Eminem's part of this track smokes all of the rest of the band's rhymes, hands down, although Bizarre's lines are pretty funny, and twisted, as per usual. The song also boasted a shit hot production style, the beats being similar to that of Eminem's own Marshall Mathers LP, which came out not long before this. 

You can pick this up for virtually next to nothing off websites such as Discogs, if you are somewhat into collecting this shit. You can also get the D12 album which this is off for pennies on the Amazon Marketplace.

Death Grips - NØ LØV∑ D∑∑P W∏B

I already did a review of this record over on Gonzo Karaoke (something I need to do again, that shit is awesome), a wicked website 'portal' to a world full of freely downloadable audible awesomeness, but seeing as I also now have the physical edition here in my hands, I guess I have to do another, proper review. It would be a bit cheapskate to just copy the review over, so I'm gonna do a second one, albiet it'll be a bit brief because I've already written about it once before.

Such phallus.

The first thing you'll notice about the vinyl version of Death Grips' rather cocky 3rd full length* (2nd if you count Exmilitary as a mixtape and not an LP), is that the enormously phallic cover art is nicely censored in an almost PVC-feel sleeve. I'm not particularly offended by the cover art, but I don't make it my business to be staring at enormously blown up images of cocks either. 

*see what I did there?

 

As is probably expected of me in this post, I will confirm that the sound quality on this pressing is lightyears ahead of the downloadable version, even at 320kbps. I'm not sure if it's available in .FLAC or something, but it might be worth a look if your more of an audiophile. The depth that the bass hits sounds so much better coming from the vinyl than it does running at 320kbps through my iMac and the same speakers / hi-fi system as my deck plays through. I also notice a lot more going on; little subtle differences are easier on the ear due to the warmer all-over sound. I also have a feeling that if I took this over to my mate's house and played it on his professionally amped system it'd blow a fucking hole in the wall.

This LP, along with the album before it - The Money Store, are both available at fairly reasonable prices still, which is something of a miracle, as silly hipsters seem to fucking adore this band with their unique and 'alternative' approach to hip hop. I know most Death Grips stuff is free, and I'm sure that has contributed somewhat largely to their current popularity, but if you actually enjoy listening to their stuff on a regular basis, I emplore you to buy up some physical records. You won't regret it.

Small Fortunes - Say What You See

Ho ho! Now this is something that I have watched grow from a silly one-minute-something demo into a full-blown project of epic proportions. Introducing my good ol' pal Gareth B, whom is a fellow band-mate with me in Merthyr Tydfilian based rap metal (yes!) group Start! Start!. Mr. B is always grooving our tunes up with his mad bass skills, but he doesn't get much chance to shine on the mic. That's where Small Fortunes comes in; Gareth B shows us his unique view on the world with this swanky and professional-as-fuck four track EP.

 

Lamenting us through the medium of auto-tune like some bastard lovechild of Ke$ha and Nate Dogg, Small Fortunes takes us into four real life scenarios told through the exciting method of songwriting. "Baldman Beatdown" tells us how Mr. B mashed up a cider-swilling lout at his local bar, "Mr. Sunday Night" is the hilarious tale of a bloke that he met in the local chippy who didn't know what day it was, "Crows Nest" is a backlash reaction to some over-enthusiastic music critic, and "A Birthday To Remember" shares the toilet-rattling tale of getting the shits after his birthday meal. I was present for that one, and boy it was ugly!

Despite the enormously sexy artwork, this EP is burned onto CDr, although you'd never guess because Gareth B has put so much love into this little package. The CDrs are styled like lil' 5" vinyls, which is right up my street, and the production on the songs by Downtown Studios' Uncle Richard is very polished and modern. The cartoony artwork by Lauren Orrells is the finishing touch here. These motherfuckers are limited to 50 copies, so act fast and get one from Small Fortunes whilst the going is good! I also have the first Small Fortunes promo single "Caution! Wet Floor!" download card free with every Pointless Records order, so get in!

Insane Clown Posse - The Riddle Box

Insane Clown Posse are a band that get incredible amounts of ridicule the world over. Luckily for me, here in little ol' Wales, ICP and their seemingly endless armies of retarded, redneck juggalo "fans" aren't really a subject for ridicule, as they don't really exist. When I was big into ICP as a teenager, I didn't know a creeping shit about any of this juggalo crap. I'm not claiming ignorance as an excuse; I knew that fans painted themselves up for gigs, and that ICP always referred to fans as juggalos. But, that was about it. That's no big deal, right? I mean, Slipknot call their fans "maggots", or in a different musical world, Lady Gaga refers to her die-hard followers as "little monsters". The juggalo phenomena that has swept America over the last 15/20 years really didn't register with me until it was too late. Is it just me, or have "juggalos" become the idiots that ICP hated on in these first few releases? Just look at any juggalo story you find online. ICP would have never stood for that shit - back in the day, at least. The stupid, toothless, idiot fucktards that ICP spent so much time hating on have become their main fan-base. Dafuck?

Anyways, on with the review! I can't help it that ICP themselves have fallen into a PC-friendly formula, churning out a bunch of crap that isn't really rap or hip hop...or anything of any substance come to think of it (after the Joker's Cards finished they fell the fuck off, and hard), but when this act emerged out of the murky smog of Detroit in the 90s, they brought with them a slightly disturbing, yet wholly unique performance and sound. It is more than apparent that ICP took a lot of "inspiration" from (the excellent) Detroit rapper Esham, but so did Eminem, and anyone else who has spat violent shit over a rap beat, but by the time The Ringmaster hit the shelves, ICP were already heading in their own unique direction. When their third full length dropped (this here Riddle Box CD), the group had gained a massive local following and it's own super-funky, nasty hip hop sound, dripping in silly slasher themes and wicked rhymes which would go on to form the basis of the genre 'horrorcore'. I fuckin' hate juggalos, and I fuckin' hate ICP's weak, middle-America-white-majority-pandering material of the last decade - but their early shit is some of the best rap music in the fuckin' world. This shit fuckin' rules!

Musically, this is the darkest ICP record other than the intentionally-grim-as-fuck Hell's Pit. Lyrical themes are in the ballparks of necrophilia ("Cemetery Girl"), cannibalism ("Dead Body Man"), physical and mental retardation ("Three Rings"), paedophilia ("Lil' Somethin' Somethin'"), murder ("12"), murder of rednecks ("Chicken Huntin'"), murder of children ("Toy Box"), murder of public officials ("The Joker's Wild"), murder of pensioners ("Ol' Evil Eye").....you get the picture. And yet, the band thank God in the sleeve notes. I personally don't understand the massive fucking contradictions here, but what can you do? Fuck it. Shit is amazing. 

This was originally released in 1995 on some fucking backwards combination of Jive Records, Battery Records and the band's own Psychopathic Records. Also, please excuse the dire state that my copy of The Riddle Box is in, I haven't exactly taken care of it! 

WHEN ALL SIX HAVE RISEN, THE END WILL CONSUME US ALL.