[Reaper16]

19. El-P – Cancer 4 Cure

This is Brooklyn-based producer/rapper El-P’s first solo album since 2007, and it comes on the heels of some especially strong years for him. Last year he produced some bangers for New York acts Das Racist and Mr. Mother****in eXquire, and dropped one of THE best rap verses of 2011 on eXquire’s “The Last Huzzah.” This year he produced Killer Mike’s superbsupersuperb album R.A.P. Music, and managed to find time to drop Cancer 4 Cure – a deafening, Def Jux, sonic beatdown of a rap album. This shit puts preassure on you. I feel like I’m being squashed by these echo chambers of drums and steel pillars of heavy synths. This shit comes hard. The first half of the album is especially strong. “Oh Hail No” sounds like a Bond villain, menacing yet supercool. “Drones over Bklyn” is paranoid and powerful. “The Full reerun” is El-P at his best as a producer and a rapper: it’s incredibly groovy, achieving almost a soul music horns-and-drums groove by basically just using distorted bass and various laser sounds.