By TJ Love

Far too often in Hip-Hop the term “throwback” has been used as a means of dismissal for artists or records that eschew the norms and sounds prevalent in the corporate rap world.  Nevermind the direct correlation between the rise of Clear Channel-mandated homogenous playlists and Hip-Hop’s rapid decline in terms of record sales.  If you don’t have beats from Mike WiLL Made It, Hit-Boy or Harry Fraud and you actually attempt to spend a little time with your rhymes, you’re stuck in the past.  We don’t need that hippitty-hop shit ‘round here.  All praises due to the Demigodz for playing the role of V under the Norsefire regime though.  The super group is back, albeit with a different lineup, but with the same no frills, go-for-the-jugular Hip-Hop.

KILLmatic is the first Demigodz record since 2002’s EP Godz Must Be Crazy and their current lineup consists of Apathy, Celph Titled, Ryu, Motive, Esoteric, and Blacastan.  Even with a line for the booth six deep, the crew still makes room for some guest stars with R.A. The Rugged Man, Planetary, Eternia, Termanology, and Panchi lending bars to the cause.  But even with DJ Premier, Marco Polo, Teddy Roxpin and The Snowgoons all garnering production credit, the lion’s share of the beats on KILLmatic come courtesy of Apathy, and he’s got some gems.

Subtlety is not on the agenda as the clique kicks off the festivities with the appropriately-titled “Demigodz Is Back”, with Apathy, Ryu, and Celph Titled letting heads know what time it is over Apathy’s flip of the iconic Rocky theme “Gonna Fly Now.”  It wasn’t the most revolutionary idea but it works in large part because Apathy chops and rearranges the original into something greater than it was before.

Apathy’s got a propensity for giving the Hip-Hop treatment to songs that were right in front of our face that nobody thought to utilize previously, similar to what he did to the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” on his Where’s Your Album?!!! project.  Apathy continues his coming out party as a producer with the absitively posolutely ridiculous “Dumb High.” The track is boom-bap at its finest with prominent horns sequenced and layered beautifully, serving as counterpoint for Apathy, Motive, Celph Titled, Esoteric, and original Demigodz member Open Mic to dumb out in a lyrical feeding frenzy.

Apathy wins again with “Dead In The Middle,” snatching up Big Pun’s legendary stanza from “Deep Cover ‘98.” Ryu, Celph Titled, and The Alien Tongue do an admirable job of bringing the type of wordplay that does the sample justice.  Primo slid the crew “Your Worst Nightmare,” continuing his late-career creative resurgence, providing a cinematic and foreboding soundscape with perfectly placed cuts, scratches, and vocal samples. 

Raw verses are a dime on dozen on KILLmatic but out of all the guest stars R.A. the Rugged Man is the most memorable.  His scene-stealing sixteen on “Captain Caveman” was one for the ages.

I don’t just rape women I rape whole countries, I rape cultures/it’s hard for me to be alive and stay righteous/I’m the guy that fucked a monkey and started the AIDS virus/I’m the Walt Disney creator of Uncle Remus/I’m the blue-eyed painting of the white Jesus/I been a demon since I was a fetus/carving the nose off of Egyptian sculptures hidin’ the black features

KILLmatic is the quintessential East Coast underground album, with more end to end burners than the line outside of your free clinic.  The beats knock, the rhymes rock snot boxes, and as a whole this record is everything one could hope for from a collection of this many ill cats.  2013 started off kind of slow in terms of dope releases but between this and Czarface, heads have gotta be excited about what the rest of the year has in store.

Out of 5

Follow Us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/planetill

Become a citizen of Planet Ill. Join our Forums

Join Us on the Planet Ill Facebook Group for more discussion

Follow us on Networked Blogs