Category: Slander

Gangrene has always been One Big Fuck You, in the best sense. Their catalog is studio art from two top-tier producers trying to one-up each other on the beats, but the most ruthlessly violent competition they’re engaged in is against nearly every other rapper alive. Both of these cats can get a sixteen off that’s…

Being honest will get you places that bullshit artists will never live to see. I constantly counsel young artists to make their music more personal, more real, instead of doing cover songs & trying to imitate their favorites. In the name of keeping it real, they’re desperate to hide the very details that make them…

When La Raza finally reclaims the American Southwest, it is likely That Mexican OT will be their first President. Perhaps Generalissimo? Halach Uinic, maybe? Who knows how it will all shake out politically, but this young man is a born leader, all charisma, with a face ready for the new Quinientos Pesos note. Fortunately for…

Rap music is an artform that can only be evaluated in context. To me, Vermont is a small rural state that contains the majority of my memories, people & “lived experience.” To Baldacci, Vermont is a street in Los Angeles running squarely parallel to the west of his hood. Surely there is no middle ground…

“I am not an artist, I’m a vessel” is a concise way of saying you understand neither of those nouns. Ekoh is a fascinating case study in pure fan service as business strategy. From his humble blog era beginnings, he’s always articulated a clear vision: he wants to create whatever his fans want to hear.…

As Blu told David Ma way back when: “Since the day I started this shit, I have not looked back once.” Even among the most ardent Below The Heavens fans, though, few appreciate how early he started: this cat was being scouted by major labels when he was still a teenager. Blu was battling across…

Mistakes were made here, but all of them started with choosing that beat. Based solely upon his fashion choices, his clumsy try-hard bar game, and his affinity for uptempo circus music dogshit beats, I’m going to wager that Greesy is a huge Marshall Mathers LP fan. (Parley: he also listens to Yelawolf, willingly.) I feel…

Daniel Son and Futurewave are two artists who deserve the hype, no questions, no qualifiers. There’s a lot of cats in 2024 getting a pass off sheer social ape politics; they’re constantly releasing new albums, they’re moving units through the fancy vinyl boutiques, they’re doing tours. They’re everywhere. The product might be a little lacking,…

What in the fuck is this kid even saying? I know it’s cool to be too cool to rap, but this dude is too cool to talk & that’s a bridge too far. I had to immediately run this back several times, mostly to make sure I wasn’t having a stroke. Sure enough, on headphones,…

Some rappers can spend years convincing you not to check out their music, just based off their name alone. Dababy is one of them. Rich Dunk is definitely not. Both of them came out the Charlotte scene, which has always had a unique spin on the genre even by North Carolina standards; half East Coast…