Wednesday 6 June 2012

Is Reagan by Killer Mike & El-P the most overrated song of 2012?

Given that it's being treated with the reverence of a new Fight The Power or A Bird In The Hand, it certainly appears that way, yes. There are a helluva lotta disingenuous motherfuckers out there at the moment because Reagan doesn't really do anything Wise Intelligent's entirely less-celebrated A Genocide didn't already do more creatively five years ago, except use the backing track of a critic-baiting peckerwood producer and cheat by clumsily hammering its point home with snippets of Ronald Reagan's dialogue. The dialogue trick might have worked for Killer Mike before with those Charlie Manson samples on Belly Of The Beast, but on Reagan the complete lack of subtlety is startling and it affords the song the replay value of an Immortal Technique interlude about how American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were actually secrete missles fired at the twin towers by Halliburton H.Q. Such an overwhelmingly positive critical response to a song so flawed and ultimately average only confirms my suspicion that some of you heathens will sweat any ol' merely half-decent Rap shit if it happens to mention Oliver North.

Other than being a footnote in Will High's life story and releasing an inexplicitly great song where two of indie-Rap's foremost killjoys break kayfabe to poke fun at their own po-faced personas, what's a useless lump like El-P ever done for American culture to earn the right to besmirch the legacy of the iconic actor who starred in Juke Girl, King's Row and The Killers anyway? Ronnie Reagan getting decked by John Cassavetes after slapping Angie Dickinson around the chops in The Killers is a far greater achievement than releasing ludicrously overrated albums by the poor man's Cage & Yak Ballz and Rapping like the teacher from Ferris Bueller's Day Off over clangorous beats which sound akin to robot qweefs amidst draws of cutlery crashing down a lighthouse's stairs.


For the love of Rap, someone please put a couple of bullets in El-P's hands before he manages to get his claws into Danny Brown's next album and consequently ruins it.

11 comments:

  1. thank you, i agree with all of the above. watching reagan smack a bitch really made my day

    ReplyDelete
  2. Murs is a po faced killjoy?
    This Murs?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zHct_1v_lg
    This Murs?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOjw9rAWt2E&ob=av2e
    This Murs?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FyjWyyoEOk
    Really?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Please don't shoot El-P in the hands anyone.

    Maybe drop bowling balls on his hands instead, though?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I still have to finally try all that Company Flow/Def Jux shit but jesus based off the 3-4 Mike songs Ive heard, El-P really has that "45 yr old european blunted instrumental" steez down pat.

    They dont sound "difficult" like I was expecting, just really lame & cringey. I can see white people with dreads listening to it sans-rapping.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yeah, Reagan might not be the greatest song, but I do wish more hip hop was political. El-P isn't the greatest rapper (yes, he spits clunkers that sound like they were written by a teenage girl) and he might not float everyone's boat, but I think he deserves a little more respect.

    Danny Brown hasn't been shy about his love for the Cold Vein and I agree with him. I love the robot qweefs, cold, icy beats yet tinged with melody.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I suspect that your problem isn't really with the selection on the album, but, more with the (white) music critics that are too easily swayed by something that seems politically provocative in this day, then tend to make it their darling and start with smoke up it's ass reviews. Ok. It's still not a bad song, however, is it? And, I believe Mike is referring to Reagan's tenure as PotUS, not his acting career, so stop. What's your beef with El-Producto, or Def Jux, btw?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Additionally, you think Cannibal Ox are the "poor man's Cage and Y@k Ballz"? That's ridiculous, and I can't even imagine how one could come to that conclusion.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I just don't think it's a particularly good song on any level.

    ReplyDelete
  9. jealous of el-p maybe a little. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nobody haters gonna hate

    ReplyDelete