Maybe it’s just been a busy month for me, but it feels like August came and went. Tons of music came out this month, and there was some noticeable quality especially from the underground scenes. The only real disappointment in August came with the BROCKHAMPTON album GINGER, which despite starting off strong as ever, eventually petered out into some of their most uninteresting material. Lastly, he’s not on the list here, but honorable mention to Young Thug for pulling out a quality project that seems to be getting the traction and attention that he deserves as a 5+ year veteran in the game.
In other news, the TSDK Podcast is finally underway, with two episodes already under our belt. I’m not going to put a strict schedule on this like I do the Weekly and Monthly, but I’ll say it’ll be a week or more between episodes usually. We have a team of good people working on this one, and we’re putting our all into it. Come listen to the episodes we already have (here on the website, on Spotify if you search “TheSoupDude”, and soon to be on Apple) and stay tuned for more discussion on what’s going on in the music world.
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Kill Em All
Kill Em All
DJ Muggs is on an absolute tear in 2019, as this project marks his fourth release this year and his seventh in less than two years, and he’s showing no signs as stopping having recently announced another project with Meyhem Lauren coming along shortly. The man obviously has an insane work ethic, and more than that he has an insatiable urge to work with some of the most promising emcees the underground has to offer. From established quality in Meyhem and Roc Marciano, to people bubbling just under the surface in Eto and CRIMEAPPLE, Muggs is finding perfect pairings that he can sink his teeth into and craft tailored, tight experiences. With Kill Em All, I think it is safe to say that Muggs has found a favorite in Mach-Hommy, dropping a second album with him less than six months removed from the last. Kill Em All is not only the name of the album, but it is the name that they have come up with to refer to the pair of them together as artists, so I think it is safe to say that this was a much more collaborative project than Tuez-les Tous was.
“You don’t kill if you don’t have to; you only kill your opponent. Your enemy. Becuase by killing him, you are saving innocent souls. That’s the rule.”
I’ve talked about Mach several times this year: Tuez-les Tous wasn’t my favorite project, as I felt it leaned to heavily into purposeless abstraction on the lyrical and delivery fronts (the beats were fire); but Wap Konn Joj? That seemed to me a much more defined experience, that was still esoteric and cryptic, but in a way that was more listenable and traditional, as opposed to Tuez’s overreliance on repetitious drones. Kill Em All 100% pulls from Wap more than it does Tuez, and if the album shows anything it shows an understanding of not only his own strengths but also of what his audience wants to hear, and that is his unique vocal quality (while rapping) and his hard-to-decipher lyrics. This is the first album I’ve heard from him this year that felt like a hip-hop album, for he is legit rapping across the length of this project; sure there might be a couple melodic passages and bridges, but nothing like Piotr or Wap Konn Joj. The Omni is really the only track that dips into this territory. Anacaona approaches it, but the fact that the track has no English in it whatsoever, and sees Sick Jacken rapping in Spanish and Mach rapping in… well to be honest I don’t know; I think it’s some sort of Caribbean language, but it is still mighty impressive regardless. But, overall, Mach-Hommy comes through with a much more engaging, coherent, and downright impressive performance on Kill Am All, with some real energy in his rhyme schemes coming through in tracks like Force Majeure and Daniel Fast.
Let me briefly touch on the features on the album by saying it’s basically Tuez-les Tous again: we have Droog with a killer performance on Apollon’s Wheels, and Fahim on literally half of this album with standout verses on Cessna 210 and Mount Tambora. The third is a man named Sick Jacken, who I’m largely unfamiliar with, but I know he is a close Soul Assassins (Mugg’s brand) affiliate, who kills it on Anacaona like I mentioned earlier.
For me, the star or this show is DJ muthafuckin Muggs, who pulls out a spread of cinematic boom-bap bangers. Cessna 210 and Mount Tambora are heavy, monstrous beats that lumber and hang over notes; it’s been a while since I’ve heard beats with such weight to them. Apollon’s Wheels sounds like the soundtrack to a mafia movie during “shootout at the spaghetti restaurant” scene: the strings are melodramatic and striking. Force Majeure and Daniel Fast are the most straight forward boom-bap beats, both of which utilize well-placed piano samples, and both of which are the lighter-hearted reprieves in the album. Titanium White plays to the weirder tendencies, with a very grainy and crackly effect layered over some sharp drums; it reminds me of some of the production off Supreme Clientele but passed through like three different filters. Finally, The Omni is undoubtedly the strangest cut on Kill Em All, which features ghostly and haunting vocal effects from Mach all over it, and lethargic instrumental haze that permeates all corners and spectrums of sound. It’s for sure the most impressive track from a layering and complexity perspective.
This is exactly the direction that I want Mach-Hommy to be going in: utilizing his obtuseness in more sparing and tasteful ways, and showcasing his lyrical prowess and unique deliveries. Muggs is merely adding another to the killstreak, and at this point I expect nothing less from him. If you are looking to get into Mach as a hip-hop artist, this is undoubtedly where I would recommend you start.
Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music
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RJmrLA
On God
YG’s success with My Krazy Life put a lot of dudes on the map. Locally, cats like Joe Moses, RJ, & TeeCee4800 had made names for themselves, but YG’s album had people wanting more. Unfortunately, most of them felt comfortable sticking to their local radio stations, with none really reaching upward with enough effort to break the mold. RJ (who now goes by the much more clumsy name RJmrLA) has not only broken that pattern, but he has demonstrated his skills as a main-focus artist, by crafting a seamless, nostalgic, and varied West-Coast compendium.
This dude look like a character from the Extremely Goofy Movie, ON GOD.
This is not RJ’s first album; MrLA served as a lackluster debut, that read more as a cash in on a gimmicky name change, and played as a glorified mixtape. That’s not to say I didn’t like a few tracks, but I would be lying if I said after hearing MrLA I thought RJ was going anywhere besides the waysides of LA hip-hop. The biggest difference between his debut and his new sophomore effort, On God, is the attention to detail that went into ensuring that it not only sounded like a classic West-Coast experience, but was structured in a way that feels like a seminal experience. It is long, yes, but like classic long records that have come out of LA previously it uses that length to explore many different aspects of gangsta rap: his influences, where he grew up, the trifecta of money, hoes and alcohol, god, his family, his come up, and even more humorous tracks.
RJ is a surprisingly well rounded emcee, with his lyricism being above average for most of those in his lane, his capacity for melodies is well developed, and his flow and vocal inflections being slightly more unique and identifiable. He operates in a skill level that I would compare to Eazy-E, with a dash of DJ Quik mixed in there for the more humorous bars. Something that RJ needs to be given credit for on this album, that makes this 20 track album (with 8 solo tracks) as easily digestible as it is, is his ability to create catchy hooks housed in well-structured tracks. If you are looking for an example of how to make a listenable album, from a structural standpoint, On God is an excellent reference. Even the way the tracks are spread out leaves you waiting and wanting more, as the solo tracks are always placed two at a time, sandwiched between stretches of quality features.
Speaking of the features, there are a shit-ton of them on this album, most of which perform well and stick their respective landings. Something awesome about the spread of features is that RJ, even when bringing in more melodic and R&B acts, will still do the hooks himself, leaving the guest’s feeling like actual guests on his album, entering RJ’s world instead of molding the track to feel like someone else. Ty Dolla $ign, Fresco, and Mike Wayne are all examples of this playing out. Young Thug (who, with Rich The Kid, are the only guests that aren’t affiliated with LA), The Game, G-Eazy, & Joe Moses are all quality, thematically consistent features. The man even gets a quality Snoop Doog feature, where Snoop apparently realizes how important this dude is gonna be and delivers some fire.
The beats here are the glue, nothing too amazing in terms of originality, but instead showing a deep knowledge of various LA sounds and time periods, from G-funk hits, more sensual R&B ballads, both old school Bay-Area and newer school hyphy bangers, stripped back and reflective cuts, and even some of the newest trap-influenced beats. Even though YG may have set the groundwork to allow this sound to flourish at this point in time, RJ succeeds in simultaneously wearing his many, many influences on his sleeve, while at the same time making it decisively his. Watching, Pretty Bitches, and Real LA Shit are on some Bay Area shit. Apartment, Rat Race, & Growing are self-reflective story tracks about his come-up. Time, Randall Cunningham, and Friday Night are those weekend anthems. Really everything you could need from the West-Coast is on this album sonically.
Mainstream West-Coast artists could take a page out of this guy’s book if they wanted to know about how to pull off West-Coast revivalism, but I think if YG’s Still Brazy didn’t do it, I doubt RJ will be the call to action. However, I think RJ has cemented himself as a crucial figure in this movement; one who can take more modern sounds and tropes and give them an authentic golden age spin. If anything should be taken from this album, it’s the structure, which serves as one of the biggest benefits to listenability (besides being catchy of course).
Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music
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RJ Payne
Square Root of a Kilo
The debut album from Philly maddog RJ Payne, who gained a huge amount of clout in a small span of time from his blistering verse on Benny the Butcher’s “Dirty Harry” off of his EP The Plugs I Met earlier this year. Having recently affiliated himself heavily (and by heavily he literally says BSF Gang and GxFR in almost every song at some point) with Benny’s Black Soprano Family, and Griselda by association, RJ has gotten the co-sign from almost everyone important in today’s underground New-York/Old School scene. Hell, the first track on this album (and his last mixtape, Leatherface) is just 7 minutes of legendary people singing his praises at how bloodthirsty of an emcee he is. Payne has been grinding for a couple years now in the burgeoning underground Philly scene, with a run of mixtapes leading up to his most fleshed out and focused project up to that point, Leatherface. Leatherface was a trip in borderline horrorcore, with scary, possibly even Halloween, inspired beats, and graphic bars with all of the gritty detail spit by RJ and his many features, which ranged from fellow Philadelphian Dark Lo, Griselda members Benny and Conway, and the strangest collab imaginable with Jakprogresso of under-underground horror-rap fame. It was an excellent showcase of his talent for visceral, animated flows, and showed a shitton of potential as an artist. Square Root of a Kilo realizes this potential, and Payne delivers a concise, well developed debut, by doubling down on strengths in wordplay, excellent and now more diverse beat-selection, and overall rounding himself out as artist that demands to be heard.
“BLACK SOPRANO FAAAMILY. GEE ECKS EFF ARE.” - RJ Payne, pretty much every track at some point
RJ Payne reminds me of Pusha T in that he can come up with thousands of ways to say that he is going to annihilate you and your crew. He is creative in a way that requires a lot of imagination, but he’s not hard to understand or decipher at all; he is more direct and to the point than most hip-hop artists I’ve heard this year in fact. His flow on the other hand, like 38 Spesh, you learn to predict, and although it might switch up slightly during faster or slower tracks, his flow/rhymes schemes stick to a formula. The formula does work of course, but it can leave you wanting to hear some new ideas by the end of the album. Lastly, you gotta know that RJ Payne is angry. At everything. He has been through some shit, has done some shit, and raps non-stop about how he ready to get into some shit. The man’s voice is a gritty, explosive salvo that reminds me a lot of Jedi Mind Tricks member (yet another Philidelphian) Vinnie Paz. It’s a voice that commands your attention, and even Dark Lo, who is a yeller if there ever was one, feels out-yelled on a track with RJ. To some, this abrasiveness may become grating, but I would recommend people give his lyricism a shot before writing him off.
I was expecting a few more heavy hitters i.n the feature list if I’m being honest. Mostly we have local artists featured: Dark Lo again on the explosive and grinding Drumline, OT the Real on the atmospheric Philly Soul, and the surprisingly fire Rebirth of the Roc with Da Fever and Sunnie Black. 38 Spesh was a given, seeing as the two artists operate in a very similar lane of specific wordplay-centric rapping, and his verse doesn’t disappoint. Unfortunately, the only feature I wasn’t feeling, despite being the one I was most excited to hear, is Elzhi’s verse on Never Give In. I didn’t think it was possible to hear a “by the numbers” Elzhi verse, but that’s what we got here. Maybe he just needed a different instrumental to shine on? Overall, the features are serviceable, but we needed those Griselda features (and come on Black Thought you gave the dude the co-sign why don’t you slide a verse to your boy RJ??)
The beats are where I was pleasantly surprised coming off Leatherface, as we see a lot more diverse sample-pool as opposed to the overwhelming darkness from that project. Purge Night and Cocaine Symphony would have worked on Leatherface, as they are those plodding spooky piano pieces you would find on a Griselda release (produced by Daringer and DJ Shay respectively, so you can see why). Hitman and Rebirth of the ROC are a couple of throwback boom-bap tracks with DJ scratches and all that jazz; it’s important for RJ to *cement* this link with the old school and I feel like he does so spectacularly with these two tracks. The album starts with drama in The Payne & A New Day, with sharp horn samples played in what sounds like a big-band setting, maybe with some funk in there. Never Give In is a stripped back, largely drumless track with a prominent bass groove driving the track, giving heavy focus on RJ’s more sentimental lyrics. The most surprising run of songs is Philly Soul through The GOAT, where we see Payne waxing over some soul instrumentals. Philly Soul is a crusty and aethereal cut, My Dreams is a light-hearted and light-drummed soul-loop (sounds like something Elcamino would rap over), and The GOAT sees RJ rapping over the same sample MF DOOM used on One Beer, a pairing that I would never have imagined myself, but it works well.
RJ Payne has done very well for himself here on Square Root of a Kilo, and from the looks of things I don’t see him slowing down any time soon. He’s already announced several projects coming before the end of the year, having already dropped at least three. People like this are who hip-hop will always need: dedicated, focused rappers with talent and natural game. RJ’s trajectory from here is up, as more people get wind of what he’s doing, more cosigns roll in, more diversification of his sound, and I’m all here for it. Some bad news, however; the album is only available on the dude’s website. You can listen to the tracks on there, but you have to buy if you want the files, ad his YouTube (which I’ve linked) only has a few tracks. Hopefully he can get the album more widely available, on streaming and whatnot.
IAMRJPAYNE.com/YouTube
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Big Turks
Big Turks
What do you get when you cross the lyrical dexterity of northeastern Bandcamp rappers with a focused and culturally specific sample base? You get the Big Turks, who seem to be Bandcamp’s unique answer to “what would happen if we made a Wu-Tang-esque album, but instead of Kung-Fu, it’s Turkish?” This album took be completely by surprise, the only frames of reference being Planet Asia of Durag Dynasty and having heard Rome Streetz on one feature. In a lot of ways, in a very good way I might preface, I feel like I had heard this album before? I mentioned the Wu-Tang, but this album takes a lot more from the lesser known corners of the Wu-collective, sounding like Masta Killa and Sunz of Man more than anything. Funnily, Big Turks (which is self-titled by the way) sounds leagues more like a Sunz of Man album that the *actual* Sunz of Man album that came out not too long ago. Big Turks is the most successful album of sonic focus I have heard this year, with a trio of magnificently capable emcees waxing *hella* poetic over some of the most beautiful production I’ve heard this year, drawing heavily from Turkish folk music, Turkish instrumentation, Turkish film, etc. I could go on but you get it; this album is dedicated to it’s motif, borderline concept, like the Wu is to Shaolin.
This lion perfectly captures the face I had when I first listened to this. Also this lowkey might be a banner from Game of Thrones and I would never know.
So, who are the Big Turks? A rap trio, consisting of Rome Streetz, Lord Juco, and Jamal Gasol, come together with Ro Data (who I’m unsure is apart of the group, I’m merely assuming seeing as he produced the entire album) on the boards, to form the group. Individually, the three emcees have had their own successes in the underground hip-hop scene. Rome and Jamal are both New-Yorkers, and have been grinding for a minute now under the radar of most, while Juco is from Toronto and is the newest to the rap game. Respectively, they have enough skill to be able to strike out on their own; but together on this record they compliment each other fantastically, with the shortcomings of one emcee being the strength of another. Rome brings the straight wordplay and bars, with his style coming straight out of the 90’s, reminding me a lot of Benny the Butcher. Jamal is the deep, husky, darker member, who seems more esoteric and philosophical of the three; imagine an intelligible Billy Woods. Juco is the gutter, slimy member, coming with a nasty delivery and a more nasally delivery. He may not be the most lyrically skilled of the three, but he operates in the higher range that is needed in Rome’s middle and Jamal’s lower ranges. All three come together to form a well-rounded trio that remind me (I’m probably going to use this comparison a lot because of how accurate it is) of the original run of Sunz of Man, with Priest as Jamal, Sunn as Rome, and 60 as Juco, and it makes me wonder with this instrumentation if that wasn’t intentional.
Speaking of instrumentation: Ladies and Gentleman, I can say that I don’t think I’ve been more impressed with an album’s instrumentals in many years. The sample base behind this thing is absolutely genius, and is much, much more than throwing boom-bap drums over a horn loop like a lot of others who attempt the same venture often fall into. There are 8 tracks here, excluding the Intro and Interlude (which I probably shouldn’t, because the Intro is a fantastically dramatic and royal introduction, and the Interlude is a quick 20 second chance to brace yourself between two of the best track on the record), and all 8 have an instrumental idea/melody that is executed perfectly. Sons of Solomon is a hazy woodwind sample, backed with some very light guitar playing, feeling like you’re lounging in a hookah bar waiting for someone to arrive. Turkish Delight brings in those winds again, playing much faster over a sparse and minimalist drum track, again accentuated by some occasional guitar playing; given the subject matter of exotic women, it feels almost like a taboo instrumental, like you’re at a risqué dance in the back alleys of Istanbul. Gods and Leave It To The Turks are the two tracks that utilize sampled vocals to compose some of the instrumental, with the former having a faint, ghostly singer bringing up the back of the mix, while the latter uses a very prominent Turkish dance sample to make up the hook, making it the only kooky track in the listing, especially mixed with the swanky horn samples that play into the dance-like nature of the cut. Persian Carpet is a sparse, pensive cut comprising of a sharp, single string waxing and waning over lowkey boom-bap drums.
The true genius of both motif and sampling come in the next two tracks; The Island of Princes and Seven. The Island of Princes is an acoustic guitar dominated ballad of epic proportions, with the only percussion coming in the form of a couple kicks and claps. It’s an emotional track, feeling like an ancient story being told of a legendary Turkish adventure, and evoking images of mystical folklore and tales by a campfire. Seven is the crown fucking jewel of this album, utilizing lush, moving, passionate string sections to weave a masterful example of top-tier sampling. The whole instrumental just flows like a river, especially the string passages in-between verses that honest-to-god should bring tears to your eyes. Mixed with the vinyl warmth that punctuates the track and the absolute poetry spit by the emcees, Seven is up there with my favorite tracks this year, no question about it.
This is a must listen in every sense. Rome Streetz, Jamal Gasol, & Lord Juco, mixed with the masterwork production brought by Ro Data, have crafted a debut project that succeeds in every aspect of hip-hop music: wordplay is top notch, the emcees are varied, the beats are immaculate, hell even the guest emcees (even though, if I’m being honest, the album probably could have lived without) do their part in just giving us more fire verses. And to think that I almost skipped over it?! If you like the Wu-Tang Clan, listen to this. If you like New York music, listen to this. Fuck it, if you like hip-hop, listen to this.
Bandcamp/YouTube
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A couple of projects I have my eye on are Ghostface’s next album, Post Malone’s hopefully non-disappointment, JPEGMAFIA’s insanity, and yet *another* DJ Muggs project with Meyhem Lauren. Hopefully this means things will start picking up in the latter half of the year. Again I would like to thank everyone for reading; listen to the podcast, I think it’s gonna get pretty good going forward.
