Review Summary: Forceful, nasty, and ruthlessly authentic
13 SONGS 2 DIE 2 is an album of zero tact. The title alone should make that abundantly clear. One half of NYC duo City Morgue, SosMula's style of rap is an aggressive, uncompromising spew of vitriol spat out to heavy trap beats and distorted basslines that warp in the gnarled style of Chicago drill. Despite frequently discussing his interest in rock and metal music during interviews (and this influence showing prominently on releases from City Morgue), 13 SONGS 2 DIE 2 is far more of a rap-focused affair with much less crossover into other genres. The content is trashy, relentlessly vicious and more than a smidge underwritten, but the sheer conviction present in the delivery on the release sells the image completely, character exaggeration notwithstanding. Mula's voice is rasping, sinister, unhinged. He hisses and spits out venom at every opportunity, his tone comically villainous yet believable.
The vast majority of the lyrical content here is extremely nihilistic, covering such well-worn hip-hop tropes as drugs, indiscriminate slaughter, social alienation etc. Yet the ceaseless coverage these topics receive is so overwhelming that by the final stretches they do wear thin, with every allusion feeling so transgressive and brutally graphic the listener can't help but be desensitised after 27 minutes. Nonetheless, the projectile style of Mula's bile-fuelled odyssey is extremely compelling before it is run into the ground. Where other rappers rhyme about such preoccupations for the sake of their appeal and credibility, Mula's glamorization of the same is borne out of his lifestyle. This loans the release a somewhat horrific authenticity, because the young rapper has a criminal history to put some career felons to shame. Morals aside, this fact is an overt facet of the album's theme, and the mixtape is served effectively by it.
Some watered down beats on tracks such as 'DEATH WISH' and 'LIL PSYCHOS' and a lack of creativity in the lyricism throughout mar the overall experience significantly, but the release still has insistent resonance and a teeth-gnashingly savage aesthetic. Peppered with firearm sound effects, trilling machine-gun catcalls, booming bass and a heady drill influence throughout (particularly on 'WHIP PARKED'), 13 SONGS 2 DIE 2 is a caustic and obstinate fetishization of gang activities and general antisocial behaviour. It is fairly one-note but the sheer relentless bravado and hypnotically shocking imagery sells the record 100%, and as an expression of artistry it leaves no doubt as to who SosMula is and what he represents. His gimmick is well-worn of course, and his rapping ability is far from fully showcased here (judging by subsequent solo releases and collections from his City Morgue project), but the album has an extremity and a legitimacy to elevate the whole twisted experience a good few shades up from where it would otherwise be. It's trap music with the dials turned all the way up. And then sprayed with dum-dums.
