Red Pill: "90's Money"

Mello Music Group (not to be confused with the other MMG) keeps both feet planted firmly in the backpack hip hop vein, having released albums by Apollo Brown, Oddisee and L'Orange, among others, and this recent cut by Detroit rapper Chris Orrick a.k.a. Red Pill hardly breaks the mold. As someone who is still very much making the same sort of salary he did a full two decades ago, I can relate wholeheartedly with "90's Money". Probably not what homeboy meant, though.

STS & RJD2: "Tennessee (Whiskey Revival)"

Emphatically NOT a slightly retitled cover of the old Arrested Development classic, this collaboration between STS and journeyman DJ RJD2 nonetheless has a sympathetic old school, juke joint vibe that has Dixie written all over it. This is underground hip hop so no Alizé or Moët, we're here to discuss whiskey.

Antwon: "Dying in the Pussy"

You know when you're actually hoping that Antwon is likening existence to the ghostly aftermath of a miscarriage and it turns out that nope, he's totally talking about the killing joke of punanny, a motherfucker clearly needs to feel some shame in his life.

Tre Mission: "Brunch / High Fashion"

There is a finite amount of flow out there - hell, even Tyler, the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt sound alike to me and both of those guys are geniuses (genii?) - but don't tell that shit to Tre Mission. I've always appreciated rappers who can craft singsong choruses without roping in generic R&B singers to pull it off (see also: Homeboy Sandman).

This video is labeled simply "Brunch" although it clearly shifts into a completely different track midway through. The back half would be "High Fashion", which joined "Brunch" on Tre's recent Malmaison mixtape and will represent the double-AA side to his debut single on Big Dada.


[EDIT 9/2/13: yup, the versions of both songs in the video are heavily abridged. Here are the full length versions from Tre's Soundcloud]:

Med / Blu / Madlib: "Burgundy Whip" [feat. Jimetta Rose]

One of the things that sucks the most about Cinemax switching to Amercanized softcore sometime in the 90's is that we no longer get to hear the breezy Euro-jazz funk that permeated the soundtracks of Nana and Felicity (if you're over 30 you know what I'm talking about). "Burgundy Whip" harks back to those halcyon, rosy palmed days with a certain wistful nostalgia.

TOKiMONSTA: "The Force" [feat. Kool Keith]

I thought Kool Keith was retired? Seems like ever since WWF guys started welshing on mandatory retirement matches back in the 80's it's been trendy for all media type to promise to go away... and then come back six months later. Too $hort is the king of this but come on, Keith, at least knock out a clothing line before you call off your little time out. Give us time to miss a motherfucker.

The Child of Lov: "Give Me"

Not quite cloud rap, or really even hip hop in any meaningful sense at all, "Give Me" is actually just amazing, whacked out sleaze funk of the most opaque order. I'd never heard of The Child of Lov before, but a little quick Googling gives the unlikely info that this is a 25 year old honky from the Netherlands with an affinity for pineapples. The video is equally as exhilarating, an inner city club party relocated way out into the sticks, which is actually a pretty fucking amazing idea if you ask me.

A full length album is in the works, but from what I can tell right now "Give Me" the single is available only as a digital download via iTunes.

Roc Marciano: "76"

Is this cloud rap? I don't claim to fully understand the term but if rapping over 10cc's "I'm Not in Love" doesn't qualify then I'm really confused.

Captain Murphy: "The Ritual"

What an odd way to begin a song. "The Ritual" begins with an extended intro that's basically a straight, unfiltered sample of some old 60's psych pop tune, then shifts entirely into a 70's flute-driven funk backing. Don't even get me started on the strange, tribal movie samples that end the tune.

Fat Tony & Tom Cruz: "Double Dragon"

Nintendo Famicom vs Scott Pilgrim in this bitch. Ghetto tech style.

SpaceGhostPurrp: "Osiris of the East"

So SpaceGhostPurrp is touring with hardcore punkers Trash Talk... hip hop has officially entered the Twilight Zone. Which is frankly right where I want it. Trap rap, blings and hoe stories... it all has its place in the rap pantheon, but I'm of the opinion that no artistic form truly crystallizes until it gets off on some extra-dimensional shit. With a few notable exceptions, hip hop has been too literal - too grounded - for too long, so it's good to finally witness a full blown explosion of abstract expressionism issuing forth from the genre.

Azealia Banks: "Liquorice"

1991 is not only the name of Azealia Banks' new EP - itself an explication of her DOB - but it's also the club era evoked by the Bizarre Inc. / T-99 hoover sound underpinning "Liquorice". Azealia is supposedly done with rap but hopefully that's a red herring; God knows the hip hop world could use some more femme alt talent to counter that Gaga wannabe bullshit that Nicki Minaj is stressin'.

Kitty Pryde: "Okay Cupid"

Apparently named after the longtime X-(wo)man, Kitty Pryde is like a cross between Childish Gambino and Frank Ocean (the latter of which is name checked in the song). "Okay Cupid" would probably be thoroughly incipient with a different type of production - see most of Gambino's ballads - but the hazy, narcotic beat re-contextualizes the adolescent, book cover poetry of the lyrics into a more sinister, drug-induced form of daydream.

Cut Chemist: "Outro (Revisited)"

When people think of "speed rap" - not really a thing but that's another argument - they usually consider guys like Twista or various Bone Thugz alumni, but why can't the beat itself have a sort of disco-punk propulsion to it? That seems to be the question Cut Chemist is asking himself with "Outro (Revisited)", which is pretty much a direct answer to all the screwed & chopped / crunk shit even if it wasn't intended to be.

Darq E Freaker: "Pills & Cocaine" [feat. Danny Brown]

All I can do to keep WKMR from turning into a Danny Brown unofficial fan site. Can't help it. He's that good. And here he is hooked up London's Darq E Freaker, who is previously unknown to me, but one way of changing that is to hook up Detroit's finest with a beat that is equal parts haunted circus and rave hoovers. Somebody's on something.

Gangrene [Alchemist + Oh-No]: "Walk Hard"

No way were Alchemist and Oh-No sitting out 4/20 this year, not when their most recent album under the Gangrene tag was basically an extended paean to getting high. Now they have a free EP out (Red Bull apparently getting up on some of that Scion/AV sponsorship action) called Odditorium which even non-heads will want to hip themselves to due to the rugged, RZA-influenced beat and take-no-prisoners game spittin'.

Death Grips: "I've Seen Footage"

Been fiending for Death Grips almost non-stop of late. Can't figure out whether it's because I'm a basehead or they actually possess real talent, but "I've Seen Footage" is possibly their best single yet. It has a readily identifiable, Bad Brains-style hook - dare I say: catchy? - but the clusterfuck of chaotically interlacing voice and mechanical noise is still mostly intact, even if held a bit in check. Spring cleaning in the producer's shed, basically.

Did you know: Death Grips will release two albums in 2012, and the first can be streamed in full here?

Aesop Rock: "Zero Dark Thirty"

Slow day for new shit, both in terms of quality as well as quantity, so this one will have to tide y'all over. The good news it's Aesop Rock's first solo material in half a decade, and "Zero Dark Thirty" finds him in top form. His most recent work with Hail Mary Mallon wasn't without merit but it obviously wasn't meant to be taken too seriously. Skelethon is out July 10 on Rhymesayers. Yeah, that is kind of a long wait.

[UPDATE: 5/1/12: added official music video]:

Death Grips: "Lost Boys"

Already covered Death Grips recently but they keep giving me more of that reverb evil my soul needs to get out of bed in the morning. I heard about them signing a major label deal with Epic at the same time as I caught their previous single "Get Got", which frankly was a little too cleaned up and normal sounding for my tastes... started to get worried instead of getting got like I was instructed. Not good. What is good is "Lost Boys", which to some may sound too similar to the previously posted "Blackjack", but that's like quibbling that Motorhead have never tried their hand at prog.

Death Grips: "Blackjack"

Death Grips ain't taking no shorts on this bullshit. Vocals distorted into near incomprehension, there's a chaotic nihilism to this that's akin to the indecipherable rage of grind or digital hardcore. Their mixtape, Exmilitary, can be downloaded free o' charge here.  Lots more at the website.  According to their Facebook profile they'll be releasing two full lengths in 2012 with the first to land in April.