Like so many albums of this past, fleeting decade, this shit was way too short. That’s only really a complaint when the roster is this good. Most of you muppets should be making the shortest possible albums. Songs, too.
Crimeapple and Evidence both exist at a different altitude, world-class grandmasters of the artform who have little left to prove. Their resumes are exemplary and they’ve been in the game way longer than you think. So it is inevitable that War Cash is an outstanding album. The only question is where it will sit in their respective catalogs.
Going from Metralleta to Aguardiente for his debut salvo, Crimeapple cemented a place in Valhalla early on. The advantages he possesses over most other rappers alive are flatly unfair. Since then, most of his releases have been, like War Cash, short bursts of high octane wildstyle maximalism. There’s a couple bangers, a bunch of smooth joints, and some head-scratchers. Crime continues to choose weird-ass beats as a challenge to overcome. He continues to succeed, too, and he’s been laying up top shelf LPs for years now.
After several judicious spins over the past week, I think that War Cash is among his best recent work. It is sharp, scathing and weirdly personal, and Evidence provides a soundtrack to match. A collage of jagged narratives with a worldwide canvas, over time this album has come to remind me of that old Jim Jarimusch joint The Limits of Control, a movie I still re-watch sometimes. It also evokes Beat Takeshi’s lonely, black comedy Yakuza films, slow blues songs about samurai.
Not all samurai are doomed. Crimeapple is in a great place right now, both personally and artistically. There are a lot of technically gifted rappers with zero “crossover appeal,” as the suits used to say. Crime, like Ghost or Del, has always had that extra edge: a great voice, relatable & visual details, and the spark of actual charisma & intellect. This is what separates the greats from the merely good, in both theory and practice.
People vote with money and feet in this business, and all that clout bullshit is only easy to fake online. Outside, it evaporates. Evidence & Crimeapple both live outside. This joint was an unexpected blessing with a lot to unpack, the qlippoth opposite of Larry June’s wholesome, status capitalism pep talks. The right album at the right time; a reminder there is a way out. Five Dickies.
