Scaring The Bros: Sha Ray & DJ Haram's 'Critical Thot'
Brooklyn meets the Bay on the duo's Backwoodz Studioz outing. +reviews of Chong Wizard; S!LENCE x Tenten
JPEGMafia ruffled quite a few avant-garde feathers during the rollout of his latest album, the assertively branded Experimental Rap, when he declared himself the king of the titular subgenre. Though what remains of the music press impulsively fixated on the subs lobbed by the American rapper/producer towards one Earl Sweatshirt, the reaction from those enmeshed in the left-of-center hip-hop artistry proved a far meatier story.
While not usually all that active on social media, Beans of Antipop Consortium emerged in his grey-bearded, flannel flying glory to drop a lengthy history lesson for the heads via Instagram Reels. "I feel like I can discuss it," he explained in the apparently unedited clip-as-clapback, "because I was there to help cultivate it."
Indeed, given Beans' documented–and ongoing–participation in the field, both with APC and otherwise, he spoke with considerable authority on pioneering figures like Rammellzee and contemporary practitioners alike. The comments section soon became a veritable who's-who of the form, sporting favorable remarks by the likes of Fatboi Sharif, Q No Rap Name, and Hester Valentine, younger artists currently pushing things further forward in their own distinct ways.
My previously established aversion to the qualifier "experimental" in describing a fairly amorphous category of hip-hop precludes me from spending space and time needlessly defining or debunking the term. However, I should acknowledge that, even before his collaborations with Ye during the infamous Vultures period, I never considered myself a JPEGMafia fan. His royal proclamation, then, didn't do much to move me in that direction. As it turns out, performative monomania isn't an attractive trait, especially if the songs don't deliver.
Of course, I will rightfully concede that he had a hand in making one of the best albums of this decade, Armand Hammer's revelatory 2023 full-length We Buy Diabetic Test Strips. Specifically, his instrumental contributions to "Landlines" and "Woke Up And Asked Siri How I'm Gonna Die" deserve any and all praise. Less so for Scaring The Hoes, a middling joint album with the unpredictable albeit superior Danny Brown released that very same year.
Should there be any lingering debate over who holds dominion over this thing called "experimental" rap, consider JPEGMafia officially dethroned. His brief, illegitimate, patriarchal reign comes to a fitting end with the arrival of Sha Ray and DJ Haram's new collaborative album Critical Thot. Released through Backwoodz Studioz, the Bay Area emcee's team-up with the iconoclastic Brooklyn DJ/producer serves as an act of principled provocation, one in which the perspectives and interests of women and femmes are wholly centered.
Ostensibly a full-length debut for Ray, the album opens with the pulpit poetry of "The Material," Its defiantly decree eventually morphs into trash talk of the highest order and delivered voicemail-style. From there, the track at last offers listeners a first impression of her as a rapper, each line punctuated by her naturally deep and raspy delivery. This is but a mere amuse to the feast that awaits, soundtracked primarily by Haram's immersive and clubwise deconstructions.
Echoes of Gangsta Boo and La Chat bounce around "Champagne And Bouquets," a sexually charged missive that nods back to the sonically lo-fi n' gothic origins of old Three 6 Mafia productions. The connection to Southern hip-hop styles of the 2000s persists on "Low End Skeeza" and "Shole Ain't," though it never comes across as reductive nor regressive. On the haunting highlight "Thot Daughter," they provide a cutting P.O.V. around the familiar meme, with classical elements, resonant bass hits, and mattress coil squeaks soundtracking a rejection of inherently misogynistic fantasies.
If JPEGMafia was at all worried about "scaring the hoes," he ought to be downright terrified that women in hip-hop can scare right back. Then again, to even suggest that these artists are particularly concerned with the opinions of men smacks of folly, a point made finer by the pair's choice of guests. The likeminded NYC-based duo of Nappy Nina and JWords contribute to the visceral, disorienting "Hey Queen," while ArchAngel lends meaningful support to the pulsating, no-boys-allowed dancefloor anthem "Strictly."
S!LENCE & TenTen, DRY CLEAN ONLY
An astoundingly gifted lyricist with a cleverly low key public persona, Tase Grip representative S!LENCE subtly differentiates himself from his hip-hop collective colleagues like AKAI SOLO and Another Planet. On DRY CLEAN ONLY, a concise collaboration with Zimbabwean producer TenTen, the Brooklyn-based rapper plays outer-borough jazz poet performing with confidence and wit for the late show crowd. His spacious worldview unfolds in bits and snippets, deceptively resembling designer streams of consciousness on the well-constructed "Issey Miyake Trainers" and the quietly vulnerable "ACG Slippers." A smoky standout, "Grand Seiko Divine Time" has got to be the first rap song to deploy a Bud Dwyer reference as the hook, while the title track perfectly encapsulates the project's casual ethos of dressing well and living better even as things get existentially weighty.
Parallel Thought, The Third Allegory
Even those already familiar with Parallel Thought's work with the likes of Defcee, Del The Funky Homosapien, and Tame One, might not be fully prepared for the production duo's latest. Its title a nod to expressionist painter Ben Shahn, The Third Allegory is ostensibly a precursor to a forthcoming full length with Fatboi Sharif, though it stands entirely on its own as a mesmeric if ominous audio document. The Garden State Gargoyle appears on three of these tracks, entering unexpectedly with a distant groan on the cavernous "Parallel Paradox" and materializing again on "BDSM" and the abrasive denouement "Ghettostarlight." Surrounding these vocal moments are irradiated passages including the overdriven dub of "Agitprop" and the fractiously fractured breaks of "Casus Belli," impressively achieving maximalism utilizing seemingly minimalist methods.
Three new tracks to snack on...
Fly Anakin, "Happiness (feat. $ilkM0ney & Henny L.O.)"
AJ Suede, "Wrawng"
Homeboy Sandman & Jack Splash, "TWENTYFOURSEVEN"
