A Slave and a Spaceship

So...   

I like rap music, but as I get older, I find that I prefer more experimental rap (and of course, old school rap). I in no way can listen to much of any current rap, as I do not understand it. You can have the current "mumble" rap. Take it far away from me, please.

But I like the group Clipping.  It is an industrial noise rap group. Industrial noise rap tends to be a bit too much to me, but I find that this group's music has at least has a little order to it (if "order" is the right word to use). The rapper of the group is an actor in the popular Hamilton broadway play.  When I saw him in clips of Hamilton, I thought "Daveed is a rapper. What is he doing in a play?"

They released a CD earlier this month that I absolutely LOVE.

It's a concept CD, and any time I can find a CD that strings the songs together into a story, I'm a happy Oldgirl.

The name of it is Splendor and Misery, and it's about a slave who takes over a spaceship and his mental and emotional issues concerning the whole ordeal.

And best of all, he is rapping over the sounds of space and the spaceship.

How creative is that? Who would've ever thought of sci-fi rap?

I was washing dishes when I first listened to it. There was much *blink*blink*crickets*blink*blink on my part.  But I like it the more I listen to it. (Maybe that's because I am a big sci-fi fan). There a couple of times that I thought dude was running from some aliens. Yikes. I think I would've dropped a glass in the sink and ran if that happened!

The cover of the CD is unnerving. If you look closely at the man's upper body, he's a astronaut, and his bottom half is that of a slave man (chains and ragged pants).

Ugh.

I gave it a listen. And I liked it. It even wove in some of what I thought were old negro spirituals.

I have had to listen to it a good 10 times to "get it". I am waiting for someone to post up all the lyrics, because I am sure it reads like a long short story of sorts.

And I must say that I enjoy it much. It is most definitely one of my favorite CDs of the year so far. I like every song. And I can count on one hand the number of CDs where I like EVERY song.

Here's a link to the full CD. It's short for a concept CD (some 38 minutes), but it packs a punch. I would have loved if this was made into a visual album. WOW.



Enjoy... if you dare.