Maybe the most important–and best(?)–rap album of 2020.
Given away free here, but if you choose to pay, the funds support defending the protesters.
Track-by-track…
Yankee and the Brave. “A crooked copper got the dropper I put one in his eye.” Advance single released long before the George Floyd murder. “And you so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me/ And til’ my voice goes from a shriek to whisper, ‘I can’t breathe’.” 5 stars.
Oooh LA. “When we usher in chaos just know that we did it smiling.” Another prescient advance single. 5 stars.
Out of Sight feat. 2 Chainz. Recalls the post-Ice Cube days of NWA–mid ’90s L.A. gangsta sound. 3 stars.
Holy Calamafuck. “I’m a Buddhist MacGyver.” 3 stars.
Goonies vs. E.T. Public Enemy for the 2010s. 4 stars.
Walking the Snow. Rap Sabbath Death Grips music. “You’ve robbed of your empathy. Replaced it with apathy.” A call to action. 5 stars.
Ju$t featuring Pharrell and Zach De La Roche. “Look at all these slave masters posing on your dollar.” 4 stars.
Never Look Back. One of the album’s simpler songs, but still provocative. 3 stars.
The Ground Below. Excellent samples updating Ether, moving it from a rapper-on-rapper battle rap to a revolutionary love song. 3.5 stars.
Pulling the Pin featuring Mavis Staples and Joshe Homme. 3.5 stars.
A Few Words for the Firing Squad. The closer. Like when Zappa took on the PMRC, this is more polemic than song. 2 stars as a song, but well worth a listen.
