Welcome to the Afterfuture

Boooooooooooring. The music. The rapping. The production. All of it just so dull.

Spacey beats with a Sci Fi feel, slow and atmospheric, constructed from an eclectic mix of ambient dnb and turntable samples from funky jazz to gritty post-industrial sounds to abstract orchestral padding. The verses are wordy, mumbly and muffled, delivering backpack vernacular and Dennis Miller style similes in a breathless staccato flow.

Rich atmospheres, cool instrumentation that is reminiscent of other genres in an album that feels very enticing. It does feel like it is missing something to deserve inclusion in this list.

7/10 [DROP]

Another one I hadn't heard of before, but that I mostly enjoyed. Anything with sci-fi vibes will usually get me, and a lot of the lyrics are (sadly) still very relevant.
May not listen again, but I'm glad I did at least once.

A HipHop album which is musically decent, interesting even in some places and doesn't rely solely on its rapped lyrics.
The strange ambient elements woven into the songs make this the best album I know in a genre that doesn't really click for me.
2.5/5 - okay

What’s annoying is I really liked the spooky soundscape aspect of this, but a lot of this was very boring and bland hip-hop. Wish there was more of the latter

I wanted to like this because I typically dig this style, but I just didn’t. His voice and flow are mostly uninteresting. Neat jazzy instrumentals though. Favorites were Bladerunners, and The Animist.

Sounds like a fever dream.

This just sounds like a rip off of Dr. Octagynacologist to me.

The fact that it was labeled as hip-hop put me off right away. As usual, though, I gave the album a chance and listened to it. I was also motivated by a few reviews. I found the first track quite interesting, but by the second track at the latest, the album’s heavy focus on hip-hop became all too clear to me. After listening to a few more tracks and finding that they all seemed to be the same, I gave up. Hip-hop isn’t music. 1/5

It's been a while since I gave some actual longer review. It's been bugging me since. I mean, it's just more fun to give out real reviews, right? Most of my, heh, "reviews" were just random words I had in mind at that moment or some joke from a certain day or just some twist on the album title or the artist's name... And it's not fun. I've been a bit tired lately, didn't feel like giving out real reviews - and I am not gonna go back to do so. Also, if somoene's reading this in the reviews of this album: sorry, I use these reviews like a diary sometimes, my bad. Don't mind it. So, here I am, with another album. I did not like it that much. Quite frankly after first songs I wanted to give it a 1 star rating, and I am still very close to giving it that. But there were moments that were redeeming for this piece of music. Some less hip hopy, more electronic songs were a nice breath of fresh air between some slop... And yeah, it wasn't that good overall. A lot of it sounded quite shitty, a lot of very amatourish sounding stuff, a lot of weird bass sounds all over the place which hurt my ears. And let's keep in mind I am an experimental and avant-garde lover, for gods sake! But yeah, this one was... a miss. BUT. Uno, it gave me motivation to get back to reviewing albums, which I respect highly. And dos, as I mentioned already, it did have certain moments that I enjoyed a bit, so I am not gonna rate it a 1. Mikey, me boy, here's 2 out of 5 dabloons for you. For your effort and time, cause I am pretty sure you put a lot of it into this piece. It just ain't for me. But don't worry, I also make shit music, we're in this together. (I'd give myself also 2 star rating)... Okay that's all, I think. I am sleepy af. Goodnight.

Held my interest, but the theme never crossed my mind until the long track To The Moon's Contractor so I started again and Yes I liked it.
I prefer the bits where he's not talking though. This sounds pretty current to me.

This Hampshire grad wears his Hampshirean hat too tight & conspicuously to be taken seriously, but the real problem is that there's so much hip-hop out there that's in this vein but way better: Kool Keith, Aesop Rock, Del the Funky Homosapien, to rattle off a few. I actually wish it was more smoked-out than it is, b/c this isn't druggy, it's languor, apathy, & intellectualism of a bogus & tedious kind. Kerouac & Cervantes creep in inanely, just showing off rather than reading deep: 'Dharma bums, rolling drum work better than GIs'; 'I'm as good as Don Quixote, smokin' peyote.' I thought 'Bladerunners' was the best track, but then realized that the Company Flow feature made it bang. Once Ladd came back in, I was asleep again, literally knocked out.

Even if the list's taste in Hip-Hop is generally pretty good, I really didn't think I was gonna see any genuinely deep cuts from the peak of backpack rap. But sure enough, here we are. I haven't heard of this and that feels kind of wild (Note: It turns out that I *have* heard Mike Ladd before, he has a pretty great verse on Christine by Billy Woods, a song off of Aethiopes, which is an *unbelievably* good album if you like unique and heady rap music). Hell, there's a company flow feature here, meaning an El-P verse, and this *still* isn't really talked about a ton. This is an underground hip-hop album with an aesthetic based in Afro-Futurism, experimental concepts, and heady writing. The closest stuff I can think of that broke bigger is Deltron 3030, or The Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox, but this actually came out first (not by a whole lot, admittedly). Regardless, I'm not really sure why this hasn't been re-discovered in the internet era, maybe it's the weird, tiny label this came out on, or maybe it's because this is a little more abstract than it's peers, but regardless, this is still certifiably underground. Although I think the quality *is* here. There are consistent, futuristic beats. Dense, creative, and conscious verses, and plenty of great songwriting moments across the runtime. The strongest song here may be Bladerunners, with a fantastic set of features from Company Flow. Even a song like the 10 minute long To The Moon's Contractor is worth it; even if it functions more like a techno song than anything. I also really enjoy Airwave Hysteria, No. 1 St., and Red Eye To Jupiter. Although Feb. 4 '99 (For All Those Killed By Cops) may have the best verse by Mike Ladd on the entire album, he's basically just delivering some really incredible slam poetry, but it *works* here. But this whole project manages to be consistent and ambitious across it's runtime. The only complaint I have is that the lyrics end up occasionally a little cheesy. It's the few moments where Mike Ladd is saying something important that he just can't neatly slot into his poetry that jump out the most. It's the risk that some conscious Hip-Hop runs, but it's usually not distracting here. This manages to be a really interesting hidden gem that I am glad to discover.

Look, I’m all for an artist experimenting with form, genre, and style to create something more avant-garde. I tend to be more generous to artists who are clearly trying something different, even if it isn’t perfect. But, this just doesn’t do anything for me. The rapping might be okay, interesting lyrics at times (often obfuscated by a wash of reverb), but the beats are often dissonant and disjunct such that they sound weirdly amateurish. In contrast, I think of artists like Peter Gabriel or David Bowie who went pretty avant-garde, but still wrote great songs.

And then there’s the final track, which I genuinely found brilliant. How do I weigh that against the rest of the album? I think I need to consider the album as a whole.

Wtf did i just hear? I don't want any more of that, ever, please.

I was pleasantly surprised by this album as I often am. The production was very interesting

I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4, practically on the strength of the final 4 tracks really hitting a great stride to end the album on.

I mean, I’ll be really blunt; this barely qualifies as a rap album. It’s not because Mike Ladd doesn’t have decent vocals or decent wordplay, but it’s because he’s doing slam poetry. If you’re coming into this expecting a rap album (and believe me, I was with one of the top reviews inciting MF DOOM comparisons), you will be turned off within the first 6 tracks, and nothing this album does afterward will save it, especially with the abstract instrumental choices that take some time to get used to. There’s no “riding the beat” here, and there’s no rap flow to slide on & appreciate, at least in the traditional sense. This feels like experimental trip-hop with a lo-fi lean, though that doesn’t really explain the style well at all. It’s got elements of electronica & D’n’B in there, but it’s just an amalgamation of ‘futuristic’ production choices meant to capture a vibe. It can feel a little pretentious at times, but once you get used to it, it’s honestly kinda strong. From a performance standpoint though, you have to meet this album where it is, and after the first 3 tracks, it can be very hard to give a damn.

I personally nearly gave up on this thing after “No. 1 St.”, which is just slurred to hell (speech-wise), and never really captures whatever vibe it thinks it’s going for. It made me think of the Dr. Octagon album we got a while back, and that was truly its lowest point. After that though, the vibes of “To the Moon’s Contractor” just clicked really well with me, even if it’s about 3 minutes too long. That track is the hand that leads to the second half of this album, which finally kinda hits a stride of sorts. “I Feel Like $100” is abstract as hell, but it just gives off an [adult swim] vibe that I liked. “The Animist” never really hooked me like that on account of the beat, but there’s something about his vocal delivery that I admire.

The final 4 tracks finally hit a consistently strong stride; “Red Eye to Jupiter” is so aggressive about space that it loops around to being fun (I mean, what other track has “outer space motherfucker” in its chorus), and the chaotic nature just worked for me. “Welcome to the Afterfuture” has a loose Kraftwerk vibe to it, at least with the intent of feeling like you’re on some kind of transportation, and I enjoyed that ride. “Wipe Out on the Wave of Armageddon” is just a really good instrumental track with a great vibe & great progression, and “Feb. 4 ‘99” does a great job of setting the stage with all these visions of beauty & peace in the world, contrasted by his rising anger & the swirl of the instrumental as it drops the precision strike of “Off duty demons in denim” to cap off the juxtaposition of the ugliness of police brutality. His delivery feels like listening to a civil rights leader in classic form, and his passion comes through in a way that’s undeniable.

It’s the track that caps off a run strong enough for me to bump this up to a 4. Granted, I totally understand the 2.57 on the site – the lyrics aren’t really online like that, the instrumentals are abstract, and coming in with the wrong impression can easily sink the album. It’s also a rather long 62 minutes, and one that isn’t very consistently satisfying. However, those first 3 / at least 6 of its final 7 tracks, along with a steady stream of at least interesting vibes (far more than I can say for something like the Dr. Octagon album we got a bit ago) just made it so this album never sunk for me. I don’t think it’ll ever get to a 5 for my tastes, but I feel very safe with bumping this up from a 3.5 to a 4. I am glad I heard it, though it does just kinda make me wish MF DOOM were actually on this list so people wouldn’t make such boldly wrong comparisons. Still though, even if it’s not DOOM, it’s a good vibe all the same, and I did like it.

This was good in some parts, just ok in others, and occasionally underwhelming. The songs that leaned into the jazz rap and more atmospheric bits were nice. I didn't much care for the meandering, mumbling delivery throughout. That is until the end when he was pretty expressive. 3/5

I was surprised this was a hip hop album as Mike Ladd doesn’t sound like a rapper name. After listening to it, I’m still not sure he sounds like a rapper - the production is more interesting than his flow.