Review Summary: Hip hop, deconstructed
Can one man simply summarize the essence of his art in 11 minutes? Disregarding the conventions, Travis Miller aka Lil Ugly Mane challenges the pillars of hip hop and hands over a microcosm of both his own career and the genre that made him the underground star he now is. Dividing his track into four different takes on hip hop, Miller obliges the listener to contemplate their relationship with a genre old enough that its essence is no longer questioned.
EPISODE I - MYSTIC STYLEZ
Hip hop is about performance. Tough boys telling fake stories with style. Historically, the inaugural masters of ceremonies were only there to spark the party's fire, and their role has now been taken over by lit newcomers wanting to display all the energy they are capable of. Aggressive delivery is one core of the genre, because this is a man's world: the harder, the better.
This firmness allows good citizens to spit all the rage they have accumulated throughout their burdening rat race. You cannot always undertake your vision of the world, because it does not correspond to the canons of the zeitgeist. It has thus been accepted that rappers exaggerate their stance for the sake of performing art. Travis Miller disguises himself into Lil Ugly Mane, a character who is not exactly him, yet leaves no doubt about the darkest thoughts of his creator. Mane allows Miller to vomit his materialistic nihilism and disdain towards the world and its unforgiving economy. The Satanic and apocalyptic imagery is only but a pretext to accentuate an already hard-hitting flow.
As the first MCs whose job was to cleverly play with words at the expense of the overall meaning of their discourse, this first part is a stylistic exercise: say as many dark thoughts as possible on top of a gloomy Memphis rap beat. Although this beat is interesting per se, it is only there to impose the atmosphere that will allow Mane to discharge his violent diatribe. He concludes this first chapter by repeating a cryptic sentence abruptly cut by a haunting piano. This is the moment Lil Ugly Mane the performer leaves the spotlight to Shawn Kemp the beatmaker.
EPISODE II - ENDTRODUCING…
Hip hop is about DJs. These gents were the starting point of the genre, and producers are now the masterminds behind hip hop projects: while a rapper is the star of the movie, the DJ is its director. When the first block parties animated the 70s Bronx, rappers were mere foils to the true masters of the ceremony. While the talking is important, one should never forget this is first and foremost music. A nod to the way DJs used to create their tunes, Kemp uses samples to create the second chapter of his journey.
Samples is what sets hip hop apart from other genres. They are the DJ's way to highlight what the rapper can't tell with simple words. They also are homages. Collaging KRS-One, Audio Two, Common, Gang Starr, and an uplifting speech by Ralph Smart, the exercise Kemp forces himself to perform is to take little pieces of stuff and then put them together to form a coherent musical patchwork.
This is not without meaning though: the trick here is to connect the first and third episodes with nothing but time capsules from the past. In the broad context of the track, this is Miller’s way to tie it all together: while Lil Ugly Mane tells stories from the characters’ subjective point of view, Shawn Kemp bridges the gap between these two visions, not by writing his own story, but by repeating what others have said before. By accomplishing that feature, an unreal dose of meta-commentary is distilled within this second chapter: Kemp let excerpts of the past comment both the story and the condition of hip hop as a whole. This is a statement: DJs can speak too.
EPISODE III - GOOD KID, MAAD CITY
Hip hop is about storytelling. Maybe R.A.P. stands for
Rhymes and Poetry. While telling tales over music has been done in countless genres of music, very few held storytelling in a higher regard than hip hop. Making words rhyme while telling a fake encounter (at least I hope it is 100% created), Lil Ugly Mane regains control of the song. If hip hop was about the DJ, here the beat goes in the background and is only present to set the pace to the story.
Sure, a rapper might be a gangsta on the corner. Maybe that's exactly what we wanted from the genre. Yet, doesn't one public figure have some sort of social responsibility? Shouldn't he change his style, given he can impact people with his words?
Jabbing the jugular of the lost post-industrial US of A, LUM tackles drug abuse, the never-ending battle with alcoholism, boredom and nihilism in a bleak conversation between two persons lost in translation. Concluding this chapter with the abominable yet liberating realization that you gotta let go of your disoriented acquaintances –
you can’t save their lives –, Lil Ugly Mane gets closer to the sun to burn better. This sounds like a suicide. Maybe it is.
EPISODE IV - READY TO DIE
Hip hop is dead.
This is the logical end of hip hop. Everything has been done, so the only thing left undone is to deconstruct what was carefully built. All that's left is pure obscurity, cacophony and catharsis. The harsh noise wall is Travis' way to kill his love. He always has been trying to fail.
This ending is frightening, isn't it? Well, assassinating your purpose in life sure is ghastly.
Hip hop is dead to Travis Miller.
