Nobody Struts When They’re Down On Their Knees

El-P “Drones Over Bkyln”

El-P has been specializing in heavy, discordant rap tracks for over a decade now, but his compositions on his new record Cancer For Cure and Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music are a new high water mark for art. There’s something desperate and hungry at the core of this stuff; each beat broadcasts an angry restlessness. El-P owes a lot of his style to the innovations of the Bomb Squad and the RZA during their peak periods – the rhythms seem jagged and harsh, instrumental riffs are fashioned from scraps of recognizable instrumentation and shards of noise. El-P’s production is a beat more lean, but just as purposeful, with a blunt aggression that seems connected, at least in spirit, to punk. “Drones Over Bkyln” gets its musical hook from a lifted piano part, but its soul lies in rattling cymbal hits and electronic buzz pulse that stands in for a bass line. It sounds like the aftermath of a disaster, and El-P’s rap comes off like a guy surveying the wreckage.

Buy it from Amazon.