Frownland

Anticon artists Doseone and Mestizo come together as A7PHA. I don't know much about Mestizo, but he's on a K-the-I??? track which is an endorsement of the highest order, to say nothing of collaborating with Doseone, who I've been a long time fan of. I think it only makes sense to call Doseone the Beefheart of rap because of the way that he deconstructs it to the point of creating the rap of parallel universes. I've heard him referred to as the Mike Patton of rap as well and maybe that's more appropriate because I know that some people are annoyed by Doseone's voice.

The record is a bizarre listen that I gravitate to just to figure out what it's trying to be. It's full of hard electronic beats and these hooks that are melodic, odd, and punchy. There are some sick bars on here too, especially the Alias feature. Doseone has some really melodic parts, some grimier ones, and harder verses where he gets especially percussive. Musically, it jumps between synthy, dark, trippy, dancy, rock-influenced, and tribal. When I first listened to it, I had zero idea of what to think of it. There's still some element of that every time I hear it, but it's stood up in a good way after several spins.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.