Cancer For Cure (2012)

This review was also posted on ArtFist.org

El-P is someone that I've been aware of for a long time, but have never really got into. I've been a fan of his production on occasion: The Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox was a particular favourite, but I wasn't really enticed to seek out his solo efforts. I'd listened to bits and pieces, but they never really grabbed me, I couldn't really get into his voice and didn't feel like it was the best match for the beats he made. I also felt like the general perception of him was that he was the equivalent of indie rock in the rap world or the champion of 'backpacker hip-hop'. As I've made an effort to listen to his older work, I've realised that this opinion didn't really have much basis.

Cancer For Cure wasn't on my radar at all until I heard The Full Retard, which seemed like a total change in style from his previous work. No matter what my feelings were about him previously, it felt as though this time the music was compelling enough to get past the vocals. It's difficult to understand just how much hype the record got off the back of one track. By far my favourite quote describing it was on a forum I frequent: "It's like a nuclear bomb went off in 1988 and Rick Rubin has been left with a sampler in a post-apocalyptic wasteland." After that much build-up, it started to feel inevitable that there would be some disappointment in the album as a whole.

Those who heard it early on didn't seem blown away by it, and Killer Mike's R.A.P. Music was generally being talked about as the better album featuring El-P's production. I tried to keep my expectations unbiased, but it was definitely difficult to stay positive before I could get my hands on it. My first thought was that if you were expecting every song to be like The Full Retard, then you'd be disappointed. I can't say that there are any other tracks on the album with a similar bombastic old-school electronic feel. That's not to say that there aren't other powerful tracks though: if anything, it can be even more relentless than Killer Mike's album. It pulls in a lot of influences, and towards the end I'm not even sure it still sounds like hip-hop.

It took me a while to get into it though, and to begin with I was still ready to blame it on El-P's voice. It sometimes doesn't feel like he has enough range of tone to avoid becoming repetitive. On some songs, it fits perfectly and they might all work in isolation, but I just found myself getting overloaded with it after a while. When guest rappers show up on a few tracks, it feels like they add some much-needed variety and the chance to take a breath from El-P's relentless assault. I guess that others may have liked his vocal style from the start, but for me I think I just needed time to get used to it.

Other reviews of his work sometimes suggest that he's not the best rapper in the world, but I think that's not entirely true. Technically, some of what he does is very impressive and he's definitely extremely creative, but I feel that on first listen it can be difficult to engage with his lyrics. To me, it seems that they are almost never straightforward and that can make it hard to make that personal connection to them straight away. If I were to put my amateur rap psychologist hat on, it almost feels like a defence mechanism against exposing his personal issues directly.

That's not to say that this is an emotionless album, it can just take time to get to grips with it. After a week or so, more songs began to grow on me – The Jig is Up is becoming one of my favourites and that question of "just why is my partner with me?" is surely quite a universal one. Tougher Colder Killer is probably my favourite overall, not just because it features the talents of Killer Mike: the introduction to it, written from the viewpoint of a soldier who has just killed an enemy may be an imaginary scenario, but it is instantly understandable and relatable.

So while The Full Retard probably still stands out as the best track on the album, due to its brash, unconstrained insanity, there is clearly a lot to like here. It will doubtlessly always be compared to “R.A.P. Music” with the two albums being released so close together, but it is different enough to stand apart and on its own two feet. Just give it some time if it doesn't immediately click with you.

R.A.P. Music (2012)

I used to consider hip-hop to be my favourite genre of music but I've kind of been out of touch with the whole scene for a while. I can quite accurately pinpoint when it started to fade into the background as Guitar Hero managed to reinvigorate my love of guitar based music. It provided an insight into the music that I didn't have before, gave me a deeper appreciation of it and I even found myself starting to like guitar solos! It also introduced me to bands I hadn't heard before like Avenged Sevenfold and Lamb of God, which are now firm favourites. As much as I loved DJ Hero it didn't really have the same effect on my appreciation of hip-hop as I already knew a lot about production and DJing, even if it did give me the chance to 'perform' routines that I would never master in real life.

However I seem to have had a renewed interest this year, at least partially down to two albums produced by El-P - his own Cancer For Cure and Killer Mike's R.A.P. Music. I was originally planning to write a single post about both albums at a later date but when R.A.P. Music was made available to listen to online via this Spin article I decided to separate the two. It's actually looking like being the harder album to get hold of a physical copy so I'm glad there was a legal way to hear it, even if it's no longer available. It's also great to have a rough run-down of the intention of each song on the album, which helped me to get into it quicker. I can imagine I will be going back to that article regularly as different parts of songs stand out to me.

The first few tracks I heard off this album included Big Beast, which is the first track on the album and Don't Die roughly from the middle. They are both big bombastic tracks that showcase El-P's production and feel like Public Enemy's original energy brought right up to date. One line from the former seemed to sum this up perfectly - "Like Def Jam circa '83 you get rushed". Other than the amazing production that caught my ear I didn't really know much about Killer Mike, though I eventually realised I must have heard him guest on some of Outkast's material. The tracks that I heard first may have been rather brash and throwaway lyrically but there is more depth to the album as a whole.

I felt like the heart of the album is a track called Reagan, which is bookended by quotes from President Reagan himself, speaking before and after it was revealed hostages had been traded for weapons. I'll admit that the Reagan era is not really something I know much about and it felt very surprising that I'd never heard these contradictory statements before. It really seemed to highlight how almost anything can be spun in a positive way by a charismatic speaker. I felt that this is where the album took a more serious turn, the delivery of the lyrics on that track seeming calm but still masking anger and pain caused by that era. There are some calmer moments again later but I was left with the feeling of an album that just doesn't let up.

This all builds towards the penultimate track Willie Burke Sherwood, a song about Mike's grandfather. He talks about the emotional effect it has on him in that Spin article and I can totally agree with him. Regardless of the personal context for him, it also feels like a moment of calm after how furious the album seems by then, that chance to relax seems to let emotions creep up on you. To me this track cements the fact that this is still a personal album, despite gaining the limelight largely due to El-P's involvement.

The closing track has the same name as the album, where it's made clear that R.A.P. in this case is an acronym (another popular '80s rap trait brought up to date), meaning Rebellious African Peoples Music. The song pays tribute not just to hip-hop but all genre's that were influenced by black culture, which seemed a fitting end to a wide reaching album that's made me excited about the future of hip-hop again.