DJ Muggs & Tha God Fahim - Dump Assassins [2019]

DJ Muggs has been having one hell of a year. He started off the year right with the fantastically evil Hell’s Roof with Rochester’s Eto, adapted to Mach-Hommy’s more kaleidoscopic style on Teuz-Les Tous, basically created a soundtrack to Columbian cartel life with CRIMEAPPLE on Medallo, dropped *another* more traditional project with Mach-Hommy in Kill Em All, and even was able to drop a second set of loosies with Meyhem Lauren with Members Only. With five projects under his belt, Muggs drops his newest project with one of the only artists to have dropped *more* than him this year: Tha God Fahim. His 2019 has been a bit more up and down, with the sheer amount of work he puts out lacking the quality control needed to ensure A1 projects. I remember Synchro and Live and Let Dump being more good than bad, but his other 4 or so projects needed more time in the oven to win me over. Tha Dump Gawd and DJ Muggs have joined forces to drop the (maybe??) final Soul Assassin’s project of 2019, Dump Assassins, a project that benefits greatly from the increased attention paid to it. Since this album was announced a while ago, it’s clear that Fahim stepped his game up to write hooks, pen great verses with his off-kilter flow on full display, and secure a team of features to break apart the monotony.

Despite being a compilation of content from previous projects, I would still recommend Dump Goat as a starting point to get into Fahim’s massive discography

If you’ve heard one Fahim verse, you’ve heard them all, which is kind of a back-handed complement. He has one mode: shouting vague philosophies and historical references at you in his rickety and stream-of-conscious flow. For sure the man has talent; he has this old-school way of looking at rapping, where he’s more of looking for ways to string words together in interesting and audibly pleasing ways rather the impressing you with flashy wordplay and deep metaphors. Fahim banks on reliability in which you know what you’re going to get on each track, and that’s consistently ok quality. However, most of what I’ve described is self-imposed in that his production windows are so short that he spends little time building out his rhymes and songs, and the rare project when he does give a project more attention benefits greatly and the results are noticeable. Dump Assassins is one of those rare projects, for across this project he is capitalizing on the pockets of beats more effectively, crafting hooks that actually work within the structure of the song, and tailoring some of his lyrics to actually fit the basic premise here of Islam and the history and nature of assassination. He gives you word stews on Cobra Commando and Gauntlet, but he can still slow it down and hit the beat on The Silent Samurai and Phantom Knights. Tha God Fahim’s performances across this record are hands down his best performances this year, and are a perfect starting point for those looking to get into his massive discography.

DJ Muggs is a beat-maker of legend, being the producer for the classic group Cypress Hill. However, as of the past few years, his production style has gotten more abstract, utilizing strange obscure samples, taking priority off of drums in favor of sample driven beats, and overall getting more hellish and low-fi with his themes and aesthetic. Dump Assassins continues this trend, but throws some heavenly vibes amidst all of the evil. The general motif of the album is the concept of assassination, theoretically where it started, and how hashish plays into that history. Smoking hashish before committing a murder is a widely circulated story of where the word assassin comes from (“hashashin” -> assassin), and that zonked out euphoria of smoking the substance is drawn from when developing some of the beats here on Dump Assassins. Tales From The Firehouse sounds like accessing ancient texts, with the knowledge surrounding you in harps and triangle notes. Tha Silent Samurai and Phantom Knights are two more examples, with the former sounding like a walk through a magical forest complete with its oboe and pan-flute samples, and the latter upping the cinematic factor by throwing soaring strings over a suite of instruments like harps and guitars. The Silent Samurai is also one of two cuts that work without drums at all, with the other being Cobra Commando; it’s a much more intense cut with a collage of sounds from fuzzy and distorted electric guitars and drums buried deep in a mix underneath psychedelic synth chords. Tha Dealer operates in a similar lane, with the bassline and warbly guitars layered over a droning synth note; a lot like other instrumentals Muggs has cooked up for people like Mach-Hommy. Dump Assassination is like a steady march to war with its paced drums and somber buried strings; it also serves as the only track in the listing that utilizes a chopped and looped vocal sample, which when used here adds a sinister atmosphere. Tha End Phase and Scott Pippin are two of the slower cuts saved for the end of the record, with the former being string driven cinema, and the latter being the sparsest instrumental here with a few drums, kicks, bells and whistles, and what sounds like electricity? Black Talons is the best point on the album instrumentally, with it’s amped-up electric guitars and dusty drums conveying this awesome sense of supreme power and superiority; it reminds me a lot of something that would be found on a Tarantino soundtrack or some futurist Western. Unfortunately, Black Talons is one of the shortest tracks here.

Both Dump Assassins and Medallo are the more cinematic and slow going records Muggs has put out this year, but I’m sure you could find something to love among the 5 total albums the dude had dropped in 2019

There are only three featured individuals on here, but all three make their impressions felt in supreme fashion. Vinnie Paz is on the first track, Dump Assassination, where his unruly and scratchy voice works wonders over the disgustingly gutter instrumental. I must say I love how much Fahim and Vinnie have been collaborating lately, and it makes me wonder if something else is in the works? The other two features, Your Old Droog and Mach-Hommy, are featured twice together on two separate tracks, Black Talons and Tales From the Firehouse. They are both short, two minutes and some change each, with no hook to speak of, but they pack an incredible punch. Tales is run by Mach-Hommy, with the beat on there reminding me a lot of something off of Teuz-les Tues (maybe a leftover), but Droog does his thing as well; Fahim kind of gets the short end of the stick on his own track however, only getting the last few seconds of rap-time. Black Talons tho? Droog is a monster on this track with his wordplay, with a line on there about his lawyer saying they need to focus more on their splits, to which he replies “what, you mean like dance moves?” I was cracking up, but he keeps going with the amazing punchlines. With an album this short, these features were exactly what I would have asked for.

Dump Assassins is a fantastic end of a legendary 2019 for DJ Muggs, and a nice medal of honor for Tha God Fahim to wear as his career flows onward. Muggs hasn’t missed yet, and looking into 2020 I can see a whole host of emcees who he could have his eye on to continue his collaborations (Your Old Droog x Muggs *MUST* happen, it would just be too fucking fire). As for Fahim, my respect for his artistic vision and his grind only grows the more I hear him. I may not be going back and listening to a few of his projects this year, but this project right here, Dump Assassins, is proof that whenever he’s forced to sit down and write, developing his songs out a little and spending time on them, the results are exponentially better than his off the cuff “release something every month” strategy. I also must say I’m in love with the aesthetic of this album (something I’ve been saying a lot lately; the number of themed albums have been bountiful), with the Middle Eastern historical angle and the establishment of “Assassin” making this album cut so much harder. Dump Assassins is the best of both worlds, Tha Dump Gawd and Soul Assassins, put together; you better listen, or you might fuck around and get assassinated.

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