It’s all suicide…
The rap and hip-hop game has been
consistently changing and fluctuating within recent years, and overall for the
better. With artists such as Lil B, Kanye West (with his most recent album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy),
OFWGKTA (Tyler the Creator and company) and Danny Brown, new and intriguing
changes to this style of music, along with a myriad of excellent releases, have
set a landmark in the history and development of hip-hop music. However, one
group stands out above the rest in ingenuity, gritty yet catchy lyricism and
ingeniously original instrumental beats; this group is Death Grips. After
releasing a mixtape in 2011 (Exmilitary) and
an their first official album earlier this year (The Money Store), both to overwhelmingly positive critical acclaim,
Death Grips releases yet another album for the year 2012 in their most recent musical
venture, No Love Deep Web. The album
was leaked via the members of Death Grips themselves on the midnight of October
1st to a horde of fans, anxious in anticipation of the aural
experience that No Love Deep Web could
potentially provide them, wondering what fresh new hooks, catchy choruses, and
hypnotically enticing beats the album could potentially hold.
Like every Death Grips album, No Love Deep Web starts out extremely
strong, with the first few tracks being some of the most substantial on the
album. Indeed, the opening track Come Up and Get Me is not only one of the finest on the album,
but is also representative of the overall theme and feeling of the album:
namely, suicidal paranoia. Several of the tracks on the album mention and deal
with the theme of suicide and death, as can be most prominently heard in the
track World of Dogs, with
its dangerously catchy chorus of “It’s all suicide”. Come Up and Get Me is no exception to this theme, as the lyrics
speak of a man poised on the edge of a rooftop and contemplating ending his own
life, begging for someone to “come up and get him”. The emotion that lead
rapper of Death Grips (MC Ride) puts into the track verges on feeling quite disturbing,
as he shouts through increasingly hoarse vocals, his voice cracking in
desperation as he yells out the troubled lyrics. Meanwhile in the background,
an intimidating barrage of throbbing bass adds to the maddening paranoia that
the lyrics create, setting the stage and mood for the rest of the album.
A
major factor in the popularity of Death Grips can be seen in how truly
memorable and catchy the choruses to key tracks are, despite being almost
completely indecipherable due to MC Ride’s shouting and relatively free-form
style. However, hip-hop cannot rely on vocals alone, but is also strongly
influenced by the beat behind the vocals, which Death Grips specializes in
making unique, instantly recognizable and truly riveting. These styles can be
seen in two remarkable tracks, Lil Boy and No Love. Lil Boy shines through
via its vocal and lyrical qualities, in which MC Ride lures the listener in
with what sounds like a more traditional style of rapping before desperately
shouting his way back into the Death Grips style. Two gripping hooks within the
track leave the song embedded within the listeners mind as a reminder of the
captivating lyrical stylings that MC Ride can produce. However, what truly
stands out most amongst both tracks is the electronic beats that take the songs
from being average hip-hop and transform them into a truly outstanding Death
Grips experience. Lil Boy varies in
style from synthesized chime-like noises that seem oddly unsettling and
isolated to dubstep reminiscent of UK electronic artist Skream, and many other
soaring electronically produced noises in-between. However, the true
instrumental gem lies within No Love,
which makes full use of an industrial-like theme of soaring electronic drones
that emit a foreboding and ominous presence that seem to come directly from
some sort of demonic terror, overlapping an equally impactful chorus rapped with
a distorted vocal effect. Together, these two tracks become definite highlights
of No Love Deep Web.
Despite the positive qualities of
the aforementioned tracks, the album itself does have several apparent
downfalls, the first of which is its’ partial lack of musical variability,
consistency in quality, and overall intrigue. Previous Death Grips albums all
have a stellar quality to them that makes the music truly unique: Exmilitary was abound with all sorts of
samples, from The Beastie Boys to Link Wray to Pink Floyd, and The Money Store was packed with
original, fun, and addicting beats that made almost every track stand out.
However, No Love Deep Web in part (though
not entirely) falls flat in these areas, producing some tracks that are
repetitive and some that are mostly unmemorable and seemingly uninspired (i.e. Hunger Games). Tracks
such as these can seem rather bare or seemingly lacking at times, creating a
minimalistic result that leaves much to be desired. This is not to say,
however, that simple tracks can’t also be done well: take Stockton, for
example, which feels very “plain” instrumentally as an overall track, yet has
one of the catchiest choruses on the entire album. Another downside is that
various parts of the album seem repetitive and electronic effects sound
overused. The bass tracks that were so iconically dirty, bouncy and full of
energy from The Money Store cannot as
consistently be found on No Love Deep
Web, leaving some of the bass on the album feeling stale and generic. In
addition, the electronically produced noise of synthesized chimes initially
sounds quite interesting and different, yet after appearing on no less than 3
tracks on the album, begins to sound uninspired and repetitive. More so than on
previous albums, with particular tracks on No
Love Deep Web it feels and sounds as though Death Grips was working with a
rather limited palette musically.
With the inclusion of some amazing
hit tracks and despite some rather bland misses, Death Grips manages yet again
to produce another album in the genre of experimental/alternative hip-hop that
stands far and above the rest of the hip-hop game. While the album did not
necessarily feel as full of energy on all of its tracks as the previous albums
put out by Death Grips, maybe this is due in part to the rather bleak and
hopeless theme of suicide, death, and haunting paranoia that is apparent
throughout the album. Given that these are very dark themes, perhaps the album
seems more low-key because it itself is dark and brooding, ruminating on the
depressing thoughts of a disintegrating psyche. Regardless of this fact
however, the album managed to successfully produce unforgettable tracks that
will no doubt stand side-by-side with other Death Grips key tracks such as Guillotine from Exmilitary
and I’ve Seen Footage from The
Money Store. Coupled with the wildly successful album The Money Store from earlier in the year, No Love Deep Web and Death Grips themselves will not soon be
forgotten, as their importance in the history of the hip-hop scene becomes ever
more apparent.
- Richard Cory
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