ShrapKnel are a good old fashioned American success story about hard work. That story has been a Backwoodz Studioz production for as long as the duo has existed, but the roots of that success trace back to Philadelphia’s Wrecking Crew and a decade of grinding through the Blog Era. All artists are students to some extent, but those cats studied rap music. Fastidiously.
“Steel sharpens steel.” The team of Curly Castro, PremRock, Zilla Rocca and Small Pro put years upon years into analyzing the greats & strategizing their own approach. The results have been downright legendary. All of them are currently on all-time runs over these past five years, making their best music to date.
At first, ShrapKnel looked like a side project. Cobalt, their 2019 debut, could have easily been another one-off gem from two artists with strong catalogs of their own. The stage show was too good, though. That live moment matters so much; that human interaction is the beating heart of the culture business. Obviously the talent has to be there, but it was the shitwork of doing a thousand shows that helped hone the product. They’re not students anymore, they are professionals.
ShrapKnel converts crowds, and that’s not an altogether common commodity in rap music at any level. Most legends are doing karaoke, and most songs that sounded great on CD die onstage every night because the performer just doesn’t have the juice to replicate that lightning on demand. Experience is everything out here on the edge. From album promo rollouts to self-care on tour, if ShrapKnel are doing it, they’re doing it right.
The video itself is another example of exactly that. Shooting footage on the road will always be a good call; relatively easy and extremely effective. The footage also helps highlight their contrasting styles on the mic. PremRock draws the listener in, his opening bars dragging deep in the back pocket. Then the beat drops & he locks in like a sniper. The change-up is great songwriting and great stagecraft. There’s no difference in his line of work.
Curly Castro takes a more Panthera onca approach, jaws directly into the beat, applying pressure until the kill is complete. His refrains hit like liturgy, incantations in deliberately broken English. As ever, he is channeling a much deeper current than sterile grammar could accommodate. In attempting to describe their 2022 LP Metal Lung to an old friend, I said “Everything about it is insane and all of it works.” I reckon I will still be able to stand on that one ten years from now.
“Illusions of P” does exactly what it needs to. Nobody Planning To Leave drops June 7th and I am duly hyped up. If you’re on the East Coast, check for tour dates. Five Dickies.
