RAVEN MACK is a mystic poet-philosopher-artist of the Greater Appalachian unorthodox tradition. He does have an amazing PATREON, but also *normal* ARTIST WEBSITE too.

Monday, May 8

[HH3os] The Lese Pinata Tour Part 1 trio

(1st round match-up 20 of 27)

Somehow I’ve sort of landed on this Mon-Wed-Fri schedule with these things, which is really weird to give yourself some sort of self-schedule, when this is essentially casting rocks into a creek out in the woods all by yourself. Sure, you might nail the sweetest flat slate stone seven skip moment of perfection, but does it exist if no one is there to confirm it?
The answer is of course it exists. And the goal is to skip the stone, not have someone see it. There are no professional stone skipping leagues I am aware of, and even if there were it would be fringe nonsense relegated to ESPN online coverage of some sort. I am a person who just writes shit as it pops into my heart, and sometimes I utilize triggers such as “albums classified as hip hop by Pitchfork the website and included in their year-end Albums of the Year lists” which is nothing more than my own convoluted writing prompt. I had considered continuing these thematic feature beyond the Pitchfork Albums of the Year concept, because I enjoy it immensely actually, and do new hip hop releases; but after long hard thinking on the subject, I decided fuck that, because that gets into capitalism and covering “new releases” which enforces the notion to anyone who might happen across it that somehow the new shit is always the most important shit, including that which to have opinions about. Fuck that. But I will continue the project, just with a different them for the next set of 81 albums. (Fuck that’s a lot of albums to go through, as I have for this, and we are nearly two-thirds of the way through it now. Projects I should really not bother with – as says the tag – indeed.)

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Pinata
(released March 18, 2014; #43 on 2014 Pitchfork Albums of the Year list)
In this day and age of two features on every track and nine producers per mixtape, I really still am hardcore supporter of the single MC/single producer project. I am standing on the terraces of single MC/single producer stadium, no seats, wearing my freshest U.S. Polo Association gear purchased from the knock-off store, which will only be fresh for two washes because that is the nature of off-brand motherfuckers like me. We don’t wash well. I am standing there, hardcore support for single MC/single producer, and though now stone cold sober, and also policed by the authorities who try to enforce their mass manufactured project bullshit on me, I will fight you motherfuckers who believe otherwise in the alleys and tunnels when the internet cops aren’t around.
On top of this natural inclination to support this type of project, how can I not love Madlib too? The motherfucker’s a genius, who digs far beyond most folks binary constrained ability to even think about digging, and proud to say as a cultured consumer of the industry now known as hip hop, I still got my old ass Tha Alkaholiks “Mary Jane” single which was first commercially released shit tha god ever blessed with his fingerprints. Also on top of this natural inclination to support this type of project, I love the fuck out of Gangsta Gibbs’ rust belt struggle rap style, which has never – in this aforementioned age of leaning on a gang of other motherfuckers to feature to make your shit seem more relevant – asked a single other fucker to stand next to him. Shit, even when there are features (like Danny Brown on this joint) it sounds more like a google drive download where they never sat close to each other than any other rapper’s features do. Gibbs rolls solo, very clearly.
All that being said, this is a great project, but it does become repetitive, not relative to larger hip hop world, but in relation to itself. Still though, when I listen to some of the other shit that’s come out around the same time, or even halfway considers itself the same style, I’d rather listen to a thousand more Madlib/Freddie Gibbs projects. Is another one coming? FOUR STARS (****)!

Shabazz Palaces – Lese Majesty
(released July 29, 2014; #35 on 2014 Pitchfork Albums of the Year list)
Not gonna speak too hard on this album because it is a mystic album and caught me at an esoteric time thus it was a perfect thing to listen to as I attempted to reconcile my love for cholo hand styles with the Arabic alphabet. SEVEN STARS (*******) number of god even god of dirt (especially god of dirt)! (Also, for you alternative supreme mathematicians, 7 times 10 – base of counting – minus 1 – for ego – equals 69, thus dirtgod times all possible digitry minus bullshit sense of self equals yin-yang position of creative dominance/submission.)

Rich Gang – Tha Tour Part 1
(released September 29, 2014; #33 on Pitchfork Albums of the Year list)
This is the new-fangled pharm-to-table wailing against the madness of cyborgian post-industrial “everything is okay” gridlock that bothers me. Have you ever abused Ambien? If so, have you ever had the Ambien people visit, those weird ghosts who stand over your bed while you sleep? (If you don’t know what this is, don’t bother finding out in real life on your own, just trust me; or ask somebody who has hardcore experience with Ambien.) This is music made by those devilish metaphysical demons, or at least for those demons. I’m not trying to say this is not rap music, because when listening to it, it’s obviously (to me, an expert whiteboy) that this is natural derivative (no diss, because it builds off, not bites) of late mixtape era Lil Wayne, taking his sing-rap wailings to the nth degree. But I can’t get down with it, because it’s allowing demons to be your entertainment, and I will only do that when it’s cool shocking demon shit like thrash metal or early Triple Six Mafia or Bushwick Bill’s “Chuckwick” song. This type of demon shit is actually Yakubian capitalism as practiced by people of all colors who have embraced neoliberal doctrine of global oppression of free spirits by brand marketing. (Oddly enough, Birdman is on top of this project, as well as Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug’s career, perhaps literally, because in the boardroom or the bedroom, I doubt Birdman’s a sub.) But being this mixtape actually works specifically to hype an upcoming tour (that of course is long past), I shall go with TWO STARS (**) to keep it above the bare minimum. Plus I may want to relapse.

THE WINNER: I really love the Pinata project, but this was about esoteric mythologies and manifesting a mycelium-like resistance beneath the surface against manmade grid that’s been applied, including at the digital level. Shabazz Palaces gets this, better than recognizable words could explain for you to understand. Honestly, if you don’t understand it already, you are likely too connected to the gridlock to even begin to understand it, even if a thousand men wrote a million words each. (They have already.) (Yet you still don’t get it.)

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