I was digging around the internet for info info on Busdriver and it turns out I totally missed this colaboration he did with Nocando.
For most of hip hop's lifespan the production's been built on samples, but there's been a movement in the last handful of years towards fully electronic, originally composed beats and accoutrements. This is on full display here, where 8 bit bleeps, squared-off squiggle and synthy arpeggiation and wash underlay everything, sounding like a harder-edged version of Busdriver's recent experimental-but-pretty approach.
Speaking of harder-edged, this is Busdriver's hardcore album. He's not talking about shooting cops or smacking bitches (except as part of the double entendr'd "(make that) beat my bitch" hook), but he swears, talks shit, spits harder than usual. Bringing battle-rap hardened Nocando along is another nudge in that direction, and as on his track Least Favorite Rapper, Busdriver is often upstaged by his sharper-tongued counterpart.
Don't get me wrong, the combination is actually kind of perfect, the rapper play off eachother's strengths effectively, clearly coming to the same places from different directions. But coming into this as a Busdriver fan is was startling to find him the sidekick. Don't knock it if it works if nothing else this helps explains Busdrivers more confident (excellent) new record.
The combination of two such obviously different rappers is refreshing, if jarring, something that is offset by the album's use of repetition and structure, across tracks like on In a Perfect World and 10 Haters, in bursts like on I Can Teleport's intro and outro. It's decidedly listenable, well-paced, with a pleasant sheen and complex lines to unpack on repeated listens. What more do you want on a rap album? 4/5
You might like this if: you like complex, electronically inflected rap, but still want it to come out swinging
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