DJ Kridlokk - 'Mutsi'

I kinda stopped paying attention to newer rap music after people started hyping bullshit like Yung Lean...seemed like it was degenerating back into the kind of crap I grew up around like Lil Jon, just a more 'hip' and self-conscious version of it. I dunno. Maybe I'm wrong. But I was very excited when 'Mista Thug Isolation' and 'Goblin' and even Shabazz Palaces came out, and it seemed like every album had a fresh sound.

Well, leave it to an isolated country like Finland to put a different spin on things.

Yes, this album is VERY influenced by 90's Memphis rap. But, somehow, even with the same 808 drums and repetitious vocal hooks, there is something different happening here. Maybe it's that the music is infused with a feeling of...I don't know, but what I can only imagine came from growing up in one of the most beautiful and isolated parts of the world. Seriously, 'beautiful' is not a word I'd throw around when talking about rap music (at least not the stuff I like) but these are really gorgeous beats.

And, Kridlokk's flow is straight out of a Three 6 Mafia cassette-era track, but his deep, unaffected voice goes perfect with these beats. His guest cast range from pitched-down weirdos (Eevil Stöö) to cartoonish gangstas (Tuutimörkö) and it all creates this feeling of 'we've been here doing our thing, where the fuck were you?'

I only understand a few words here and there (namely 'Memphis,' 'gangsta' and 'broke ass bitch') but it doesn't even matter when appreciating this album. Although, after having spoken to a couple of these guys, it seems the lyrics are far more demented than you could imagine. They've created these over-the-top gangsta personas who would rather get smoked out and eat chicken in the recording studio than shoot you.

Seriously, this is some strange stuff:





I do enjoy the fact that they seem to have latched onto the idea of rap cassettes and cassette culture more so than the Memphis-influenced artists over here. And that they've combined this blown-out, evil style of production with the gonzo humor of the Beastie Boys.

There are, in fact, quite a few references to golden-era hip hop throughout the albums these guys release, which is a style most rappers over here wouldn't dare combine with menacing trap beats.

Anyhow, I'm not posting a link to the album...you can find it on a couple other blogs, but I'd really recommend you support these dudes. It is on Spotify if you do that.

From the sound of it, they are actually chart-topping performers over in their native country(!) which makes our mainstream rap look like...well....garbage, I guess?

Don't sleep on this shit.

DJ Kridlokk - 'Mutsi'

Tracklist:

1. Mit Vit Ei Mit
2. Lokin Ipsum
3. Akuutti elämä
4. IDKFA
5. Stö & Lok (ft. Eevil Stöö)
6. Bout it Bout it
7. Paskat siit '14
8. Hynät, rahat ja ruplat (ft. Tuuttimörkö)
9. Teepait
10. Ikinä kii
11. Mutsi
12. X