This is Tyler, the Creator’s dance album. His return to basics, as signaled by a cover that evokes 1980s hip-hop. But as this grotesque, parodic image also suggests, everything very quickly takes on a particular tone – acidic, acrimonious, and atrabilious – with a rapper like him. The sound is funky, but the sharp-tongued provocateur from Odd Future is still very much present.
CLIPPING – Dead Channel Sky
Clipping still loves its concepts. This time, the trio leaves horrorcore behind to explore the cyberpunk universe and the threats looming over our hyperconnected world. True to its taste for experimentation, the Los Angeles band ventures into the realm of 1990s electronic music. All of this brings to mind the science-fiction-infused indie rap of that same era. And for that very reason, we like it.
G PERICO & DJ DRAMA – L.A. Gangster
DJ Drama is a fantastic curator. On his “Gangsta Grillz” mixtapes, he invites rappers to be fully themselves, right down to cliché and formula, in order to better extract the very essence of their art. And he succeeds once again, even at this late stage in his career, when he teams up for a second time with G Perico and elevates the South Central rapper’s highly referential West Coast style.