Conscious Rap Catch-Up With Ka, Blu & Exile, E L U C I D, Lupe Fiasco, & Mach-Hommy: Rapid Fire Reviews
Rap is one of those genres where I'll never be able to keep up with all the relevant releases. I do my best and there are still way more than just these 5 records that slipped through the cracks, so let's try and catch up.
The Thief Next To Jesus - Ka
This one hurts. I wanted to cover this record but it came out in a busy week and slipped past me when I took vacation but I certainly would have prioritized it if I could go back in time in the wake of the news of Ka's tragic death. Through that lens it's worth looking at this record with a closer gaze than what I'm able to here. In fact, it's probably worth pouring over his entire excellent discography to pull out highlights. His finale album The Thief Next To Jesus is fittingly soaked in Christian themes, something he's indulged in before on records like 2020's Descendents Of Cain. But in particular on this record through both his own lyrics and several perfectly selected samples, he examines the history of black American's relationship to Christianity.
There are 14 tracks on the record and each of them comes with something to say. Rather than break them all down in exhaustive detail I'll point out some of my favorites of the bunch. "Beautiful" isn't one of the most thematically focused songs here but it does have the incredibly engaging trick of ending each of its bars on this sample of the word "beautiful." But it isn't just a sonic implant, each bar on the track is actually written to conclude with the word beautiful and it manages to carry on creatively for far more than you'd assume. On the other hand "Broken Rose Window" uses perfectly placed samples to explain the contrast between the churches efforts to combat slavery, verses the people who deploy religion as a vestige of hate before expanding articulately on several standout bars throughout the track.
The shocking "Borrowed Time" featured the now-crushing chorus "hope it's borrowed time when my time come." The lyrics themselves discuss Ka's upbringing and how difficult it is to escape similar situations which eventually becomes intertwined with the faith that saw him through it. It's easy to imagine this sentiment persisting up to the moment of his tragic death. Finally, "Such Devotion" is a stunning track that creeps along around these vintage soul samples over which Ka delivers bars about the level of devotion it takes to escape institutional poverty.
The greatest gift Ka gave us all during his life was his art, so it's fitting he would conclude his timeless run with one last great release. The combination of creative sampling and playful song arrangements with Ka' sharp lyricism and thematic focus throughout creates an incredibly impressive listen. Even in moments where the lax flows feel like they wander completely off course or the lyrics for a few bars longer than usual without a killer double entendre, the album is more than prepared to taper over the lulls with more interesting material right around the corner. It isn't a eulogy for Ka, but a fitting ending regardless placing a cherry squarely on top one of the most consistent discographies in underground hip-hop. 8/10
Love (the) Ominous World - Blu & Exile
Blu is an EXTREMELy prolific LA rapper who has seemingly been dropping new tapes every other month this year and has dozens of record's under his belt across the past 20 years. Wow several fan favorites exist within his discography, the two gems are a pair of albums he made with producer Exile. The first was 2007's Below The Heavens which has gone down as a beloved underground rap classic. The second is 2020's Miles a long but massively acclaimed tribute album to Miles Davis. Now the pair are back with a third record and one that tributes Los Angeles in an even more direct way than Blu normally does, as you can tell quite obviously from the vibrant opener "Hello L.A."
In fact, the entire album kind of feels like a victory lap for Blu who is at a point in his career where he's fairly earned it. "Undisputed" is a banger about how he could have sold out and found more commercial success but he sticks to conscious rap because he's the best at it. Later on the album there's "Suge Knight" a narrative-heavy song where Blu is offered a contract to sign for Death Row Records with a stiff vintage drum beat pummeling throughout the entire track. In contrast, there's track like "The Ominous World" a darker and more experimental effort that sees Blu observing what he sees as some of the dangers and perils for society going forward to great results.
Another major element of the record is just how loaded up it is with features. Refreshingly the album isn't filled with high-profile names or frequent collaborators that have started to run dry. But it's a double-edged sword as the quality of those collaborators can vary greatly. A song like "Homies" absolutely crushes with a killer variety of contributions from several MCs with a surprising amount of chemistry, but that's hardly the rule. Another problem with the excess of features beyond just inconsistencies is that sometimes it can take the mic out of Blu's hand for way too long, to the extent that his broad overall focus starts to become less impactful.
Love isn't the perfect Blu & Exile outing I was hoping for and the biggest issue is how often Blu himself seems to vanish. But despite my extremely high expectations I still think this is a solid rap record that churns out some pretty decent performances. On the production side Exile shows off his versatility while supporting Blu through a variety of thematic pursuits. The results are a good but not great record, though one I'm pretty happy exists. 7/10
REVELATOR - E L U C I D
E L U C I D has been one of the definitive rappers in the genre's underground for more than a decade as one-half of experimental duo Armand Hammer. While he's popped up occasionally with solo work and other side projects in that time, none of it has really floored me the same way the best Armand Hammer work does. But REVELATOR's singles grabbed me when they dropped in advance of the album itself and the warm reception it received made me excited that it could be E L U C I D's best non-Armand Hammer release yet.
"THE WORLD IS DOG" kicks the record off with these propulsive uptempo drums and surreal wiry sounds echoing into space behind E L U C I D's vicious rapping. It's an intense sound that certainly isn't common on Armand Hammer records. That's kind of the tone for much of the album with much louder and more blunt instrumentation and deployment of pummeling lyrical phrases and repetition. It's still experimental but in a much more forward way. The album isn't packed full of features but it won't surprise you who steals the show with a pair of appearances. Billy Woods shows up on both the single "INSTANT TRANSFER" and the deep cut "BAD POLLEN" and they're two of the best tracks here.
Lyrical highlights include the riveting "IKEBANA" which features moments like "heavy liminal, disintegration tape don't be cynical, complicated chemical, made it out the water let's get physical." I also SWEAR the album contained a sample of the instrumental from Frank Ocean's "Fuitura Free" but I can't prove it.
Unfortunately, the second half of that album begins to lose some of its sonic ambition and as things settle into a more familiar and stark space it gets less interesting. Make no mistake there are still good tracks in the bunch like the ripping "XOLO," but what made the record so exciting right out of the gate is hard to identify much across the second half. When you take it all into consideration REVELATOR certainly serves up more good material than bad. But in terms of hitting a reset button on my expectations for E L U C I D solo albums, it didn't quite get there. 6.5/10
Samurai - Lupe Fiasco
Lupe Fiasco is a great rapper and a pretty eccentric artist who has followed his ambitions to some very conceptual and interesting places throughout a perpetually underrated career. But even with all of that in mind hearing that his latest project was a concept album about if Amy Winehouse became a battle rapper was still kind of hard to believe. And yet, that's exactly what we have in Samurai, no, I'm not joking. Take the title track, which also served as the lead single and album opener. The song sets up the story of how Amy arrived at battle-rapping inspired by her famous Wu-Tang referencing voicemail which gives the song both its chorus and its name.
The other big highlight on the first half is "Palaces" where Amy, or the narrating character filling for her realizes that fame isn't all it's cracked up to be. While this is such a common theme in rap songs Lupe manages to make it all his own with creative wordplay and the framing of the three separate verses as their own prayers. The second half of the record feels like much more familiar Lupe. Though the songs to play thematic roles they also emanate with his typically playful and referential styles with moments like the "how Sway" bar on "No. 1 Headband" and the Daft Punk joke on "Bigfoot."
The highlight of the second half is undoubtedly "Outside" a pretty casual song with some fairy tale strings worked into the instrumental. What really steals the show, however, are Lupe's ridiculous lyrics and flows. He's always been a mind-bending MC but the way he wraps words and syllables around each other on this track is frankly ridiculous and incredibly impressive. This album's concept is undeniably special and Lupe's willingness to undertake it alone is worth praise. But beyond his consistent talent as a rapper, the album is really just another Lupe record. While it's creative, I wouldn't say these songs necessarily work to elevate themselves to something greater than the sum of their parts. What results is a solid album worth hearing, though one that won't set the world on fire. 7/10
Mach-Hommy - #RICHAXXHAITIAN
Mach-Hommy is another pretty prolific rapper that I can only really rap into every once in a while. The last time I covered his music in full was on his very good 2021 effort Pray For Haiti but he's released several mixtapes and collaborative projects in the years since. RICH felt like a return to the essential part of his discography as well as a revisiting of some of the themes of Pray. Despite having plenty to say about the album earlier this year it slipped past me and I didn't get the chance to cover it. So let's remedy that now, and no Mach-Hommy fans, my dislike of this things obnoxious Kaytranada-produced lead single has not faded one bit. Thankfully most of the record is much better.
An early example of this is "ANTONOMASIA" where Mach goes back to back with Roc Marciano and the verbose writing style both deploy despite the varying intensity of their performances is extremely compelling. They have a ton of chemistry together and hand off throughout the verses perfectly. Speaking of features Your Old Droog pops up on the track "EMPTY SPACES" and as long as you ignore one supremely strange bar about dogs he absolutely devours his verse. But far and away the best feature on the album is Black Thought keeping up his ridiculous hot streak with the best verse on the entire album on "COPY COLD."
But that certainly isn't meant to imply Mach can't handle some highlights all on his own. "GORGON ZOE LON" pops up right in the middle of the album and serves up highlight reel bars one after another including some of his raunchiest bars on the entire record, for what it's worth. Additionally "LON LON" is a late album highlight that comes on a point in the record where Mach seems to start slowing things down as it guides towards a finale. While that isn't exactly the case the Conductor Williams-produced finale "HOLY" is on the more reserved side and features a more conventional chorus that a lot of the record has. It feels like a bright note to finish the record on with the backing choir that dominates the second half.
While this record may not quite hit me the same way Pray For Haiti did I still like it a lot. Mach-Hommy doesn't just have a lot to say but he has a variety of compelling ways to say it and the results are consistently engaging save for a whiff or two at points in the tracklist. Mostly its playful instrumentals and unwavering confidence from Mach himself propel it to strong results. 7.5/10
