Hard Rap: Rock’s 21st Century Replacement

a selection of recent hip hop records worthy of note

Not long ago, genre pundits claimed that Rap was dead. In those days, Soulja Boy, autotune, and pop-accessibility had all but killed a genre once known for social consciousness and innovative lyricism. Since that time, rappers have come up out of the woodwork to revive the genre and take it to new places.

Perhaps my favorite niche of modern rap is its loudest iteration, which I am tentatively calling Hard Rap. Think abrasive beats, distorted vocals, and more artsy-fartsy content than other forms of Hip Hop. Rappers often wax eloquent on an artistic concept rather than a social issue or particularly impressive booty. Hard Rap often features song-to-song continuity, but not necessarily in the form of a Rap Opera (e.g., Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city vs. DAMN.).

Here’s where things get interesting: Hard Rap is taking market share from the weakening grip of Rock & Roll. Roots, Prog, Punk, and Grunge each cornered the market for popular art music at certain points in history. But, these days, Hip Hop is modern music’s most popular genre — and Hard Rap is its aggressive cutting edge. So, take a journey with me through several Hard Rap records of the last few years. You won’t need that electric guitar where we’re headed; just come along with an open mind and a loud hi-fi.

Run the Jewels — Run the Jewels 3 (Run the Jewels, 2016)

RTJ3 is rap duo Run the Jewels’ most bombastic outing yet. In fact, if your speakers don’t ooze magical iridescent nectar while pumping out RTJ3’s blissfully saturated beats, you need to upgrade your setup. RTJ3 finds El-P and Killer Mike settling into the reality that their most successful work hasn’t come out of their passion-project solo efforts, but a late-career digression originally formed to blow off steam. RTJ3 is a distillation of everything great about Run the Jewels: it’s hard, funny, vulgar, political, dense, outlandish, danceable, aggressive, visionary, cynical, unrelenting, accessible, dark, vibrant, and it begs to be turned up at least one notch louder than your comfort level.

El-P and Killer Mike have a knack for imagery and one-liner jabs. RTJ3 is packed with memorable snippets, like, “You don’t get it, I’m dirt motherfucker, I can’t be crushed,” or “Ballet or bullet you better use one,” or “Scream ‘Fuck ‘em!’ till they lop our bloody noggins off.” You don’t need context for killer lines like these.

But RTJ3 doesn’t just crack smiles. Mike and El go full-on political manifesto throughout the record. With titles like Kill Your Masters, topics like grassroots revolution, and extended descriptions of proletariat violence, RTJ3 is a tour de force of political reckoning via frontier justice. “Say hello to the masters on behalf of the classless masses / We showed up ski masks, picks, and axes to murder asses / Lift up our glasses and watch your palaces burn to ashes / Fucking fascists, who the fuck are you to give fifty lashes?”

So, get into the excitement of RTJ3, but pay attention while you do — you might learn a thing or two.

Shabazz Palaces — Quazarz (Sub Pop, 2017)

Ishmael Butler and Tendai Maraire came out as Shabazz Palaces eight years ago with a pair of EPs released simultaneously on Sub Pop records. Now, in 2017, they’ve come full circle, with a pair of LPs made public on the same day.

Shabazz Palaces have an unorthodox African/sci-fi aesthetic. Butler and Maraire’s production features equal parts electronic soundscape and carefully manipulated hand percussion. The result manifests in a textural, minimalist sound that’s drenched in psychedelia. Like a quieter, blacker Animal Collective, Shabazz Palaces exists in a sonic space detached from convention and genre.

Butler, known as Palaceer Lazaro in the textual world of Shabazz Palaces, often obscures his voice with envelope filters and reverb. Butler speaks exclusively in cryptic metaphor, especially now through the character Quazarz, an alien being from an almost-parallel universe that fully embodies the societal ills of our own. Butler’s cadence is hypnotic, and his lyrical delivery is like none other. The rhythm of his voice sits behind the beat and lazily syncopates over the instrumental track.

Shabazz Palaces are a polarizing figure in Rap music. But they’ve garnered respect from the critical Hip Hop coterie for their undeniable originality.

Aesop Rock — The Impossible Kid (Rhymesayers, 2016)

Aesop Rock is a veteran underground rapper currently living in Portland, Oregon by way of Brooklyn, New York. His 2001 record Labor Days is an underground rap standard, but Aes refuses to be defined by an early-career hit. Instead, the rapper has continued to develop his style and approach, to varying degrees of success. The Impossible Kid may be his best yet — packed with wit and fresh insights on a hilariously wide variety of topics that center around Aes’ bruised psyche.

But first, a word on harmony: The Impossible Kid’s beats are satisfying, featuring jangly guitars, live boom-bap drums, gritty sub-bass textures, and absolutely saccharine samples. These fifteen tracks strike a coveted balance between consistency and variety that is both crucial and elusive for Hip Hop beats. You can sink into the groove as it loops through its bars, but you never tire of the track as it throws curveballs from time to time. If you’re not in the mood for a killer lyrical performance (and don’t ask me why), The Impossible Kid instrumentals are a great follow up to Donuts or Petestrumentals.

Lyrically, the thesis track for The Impossible Kid is Shrunk, where Aes masterfully eviscerates modern psychotherapy while admitting his crippling dependency to his psychiatrist. “She said, ‘When you start getting all expressive and symbolic / It’s impossible to actualize an honest diagnostic’ / I said, ‘When you start getting all exact and algebraic / I’m reminded it’s a racket not a rehabilitation.” In the end she recommends he adopt a therapy cat — how very Portland of her.

Further Listening:

• Danny Brown — Atrocity Exhibition (Warp, 2016). Hip Hop’s high-pitched, nasal-voiced lyrical virtuoso cranks up the gain on his Warp début.
• Death Grips — The Powers That B (Harvest, 2015). With guitarwork from longtime Zach Hill collaborator Nick Reinhart, Death Grips churn out one of their gnarliest LPs to date (and that’s saying something).
• El-P — Cancer 4 Cure (Fat Possum, 2012). With a paradoxical self-loathing (“I wouldn’t want to be a part of any club that would have me”), El-P presents a compelling, albeit cynical prescription for modern society.
• Clipping — Splendor & Misery (Sub Pop, 2016). Noise musicians William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes’ jarring, grainy instrumentals make for an intense thirty-seven minutes of electronic Hip Hop fury.