Killer Mike At the Height of His Non-Fu*k Giving Powers on “R.A.P. Music” (Album Review) Posted by Nathan S. on 05/23/12 | Filed under Features, Opinion, Killer Mike, Album Reviews

RefinedHype Nation asked for more album reviews on the site, you got 'em. Fresh off Ab-Soul's "Control System", I took a shot at breaking down Killer Mike's "R.A.P.Music" album for the mothership.

I've included some select paragraphs below, hit the link at the bottom of the page for the full review. Feel free to tell me what a fucking moron genius I am in the comments below and we can really break down "R.A.P. Music". Enjoy, and for the record, here's what Mike, who's notorious for responding to critics, had to say: "Very Solid Write Up. U know I want that other spin like the US wants Cuba....LOL. No retort,well written & appreciated. I still say Classic"

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The story of Killer Mike’s career is the story of non-fu*k giving. When Mike first came onto the national stage Snappin & Trappin alongside Outkast he had the cojones to call his own verse a classic, a move some considered arrogant, but he didn’t give a fu*k. He called it like he saw it. Mike could look at the success of his last album, Pl3dge, and do his best to replicate it…but that would be something a fu*k-giver would do. Instead, he linked up with Def Jux founder and post-apocalyptic producer El-P, in his own right a man with a long history of non-fu*k giving, to create R.A.P. Music, a project that’s the best of his career precisely because it’s the complete and total absence of a fu*k given.

Make no mistake, Killer Mike absolutely cares what you think, there might not be another rapper alive as vocal in responding to both the media and public, but that doesn’t mean he lets the world influence his music. Perhaps the presence of consummate outsider El-P pushed him even, perhaps Mike has simply reached the point in his life where he’s completely confident in his abilities and ideas, perhaps both, but R.A.P. Music sounds like exactly no other album to come out this year.

We might as well start with the street fight portion of the program. Scratch that, Big Beast isn’t so much a street fight as it is a riot. In addition to one of the best T.I. verses we’ve heard in a minute and Bun B‘s as solid as ever, Big Beast is Mike at his biggest and baddest, an emcee who can weave Boogie Down Productions and old school Def Jam references into aggressively uppercut flows. Southern Fried also finds itself on the “turn the volume up” side of the spectrum showcasing Mike’s ability to really ride a flow, as does the aptly titled Go!, which ups the tempo and goes heavy once again on the rap references. And while unlike Big Beast and Go! it demands some more serious mental energy to follow, JoJo’s Chillin is one of the more impressive exercises in storytelling rap you’re going to here. No doubt about it, the man can rap.

Those who measure the worth of an album on copies sold will likely dismiss and discredit R.A.P. Music, but in doing so they’d be dismissing one of the braver hip-hop albums we’ve heard in years. Actually, on second thought, maybe it’s not brave at all. Maybe when you don’t give a fu*k making an album like this is easy. Frankly I don’t know, I’m still prone to giving a fu*k what others think about my work (on occasion). But with R.A.P. as my guide, maybe someday I too can learn to simply speak the truth at all times, regardless of the consequences.

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Read the Full "R.A.P. Music" Review via The DJBooth

See Also: Thank Sweet Baby Jesus, We Can Now Stream Killer Mike’s “R.A.P. Music” Album