Welcome to the Afterfuture

Robert a encore fait son pitre en selectionnant un album que je mets au defi quiconque de connaître, passons, l'heure est à un sujet bien plus important. Cela fait maintenant plusieurs mois que mon camarade robpecunière et moi cravachons pour vous divertir, grâce à des reviews d'albums toutes plus pertinentes les unes que les autres. Nous nous demandions aujourd'hui si un français avait déjà lu ne serait-ce qu'une seule de nos reviews. Si tel est le cas, nous vous donnon srendez-vous: à l'heure ou l'album Qui sème le vent recolte le tempo de MC Solaar tombera sur votre générateur, inscrivez la phrase suivante dans votre review de l'album: "Mike Ladd est le fils de Robert Dimery". Grâce à ce savant codage, nous saurons que nos reviews ont peut-être un jour touché une âme. J'emmenerai personellement des madeleines et une bouteille de jus d'orange à cette occasion.

Que dire de Mike Ladd... Et bien pas grand chose puisque personne ne le connaît. Je vais donc profiter de cette critique pour vous faire part de quelque chose. Vous savez bien que mon compère eltrapeze et moi sommes très dévoués à l'exercice qu'impose ce générateur, à savoir l'écriture de "reviews" toutes plus inspirées les unes que les autres. Nous sommes, de ce fait, absolument persuadés qu'il existe parmi vous des admirateurs inconditionnels de nos écrits. C'est pourquoi nous vous offrons la possibilité de nous contacter. Pour ce faire, rien de plus simple : écrivez sous l'album Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo de ce cher MC Solaar la phrase "Mike Ladd est le fils de Robert Dimery." Vous serez ensuite informés de la suite des événements par un faisceau d'indices et différents messages codés à déchiffrer dans nos critiques ultérieures. Bien à vous.

Mike Ladd, more like Mike Badd

They need a 0 option.

A Surprise! Excellent album which I had never heard of from an artist I had similarly never heard of before. This is the kind of album that makes this whole list and this website a lot of fun. This guy has a *very* Madvillain/MF Doom vibe. If you like them, you'll like Mike. I was going to go with four stars, but I really think I've talked myself up to 5. This was truly excellent.

Interesting. I like where it’s going but don’t know if it got where it wants to be.

I probably could die without having had listened to this. I can appreciate the experimental hip hop sound, but it's kind of all over the place

Based on almost nothing other than the name, I wasn't expecting to like this but I liked it a lot. It's somehow at once lofi and sophisticated, laid back and sharp edged.

this was surprisingly good. i especially liked the last track (Feb 4 '99), which was an interesting and powerful departure from the rest of the album, but still totally fit.

Unexpectedly good. This was a great find - very electronicish, Deltron3030-esque, perfect future-forward sound. if I could give 4.5 stars I would.

Incredible beats and vibes, just slightly underwhelming flows.

i think i liked it?

Meh. Maybe influential on music outside of my taste. At least it was somewhat listenable

Wow! Heavy jazz influenced hip hop album. Unexpected for sure, but a welcome surprise.

Mike Ladd's WELCOME TO THE AFTERFUTURE is a pretty wild trip that I really enjoyed taking. He won me over on the opening track, "I’m 5000 miles west of my future, Where’s my floating car, my utopia? My Mars colonies, like it’s supposed to be? Space 1999." I can relate. I'm not predisposed to relate to rap albums, but I fell in love with the science fiction vibe and all the ethereal music and atmosphere. There are a lot of compelling lyrics. This is one of the more unique and one of the best rap albums I've ever listened to. Some of my favorites: "5,000 Miles West of the Future", "Planet 10," "To The Moon's Contractor," "The Animist," "Wipe Out on the Wave of Armageddon"

love it. its like a slam poet made a Deltron 3030 prequel and went back in time and released it the month before Deltron came out. Also El-P on track 5.

WHOA what the heck was that?

beautiful

pretty good hip hop/electronic trend - but a bit crass.

really cool. kinda like MF Doom type spoken word rap but with modern beats

I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would. Pretty good.

A present from the past

It certainly held my interest throughout, though not all of it seemed exactly to be music. I don't think I grasped that much of the lyrics really, with their rapid fire flow and dense cultural references.

Love the music on this album. I've said it more than once this year: there's something about hip hop that appeals to me. This one feels a bit more experimental WRT the orchestration than most, and I liked it more as a result. Solid 4 stars.

1. Is this a rock album or hip hop album :\ 2.Ok this is hard potential playlist add 3.Where are we going? 4.This album sceams experimental in your ear bruh 5.Finally another good song potetntial playlist 6.Defintitely an add 7.ight 8.ight 9.ight 10. yes idk why this album is all instrumentals this guy has a really good cadence and if i was catholic my name would be chris! 11.Space mothafucka 12. pop yo perc(add) 13.yes 14.good album 4/5

Dit album ga ik nog eens op mijn gemak beluisteren. Lekker album

I'm surprised I've never heard of Mike Ladd before, but this album is right up my alley. Very Swayze!

Shocked to see an album with so few listens show up in this list (per Spotify at least) but it was actually quite good. A strong flow with some strong highs, few real lows.

I really liked the one about the moons contractor, very complex and lots of levels and that

This is cool! I've never heard of Mike Ladd but really enjoyed listening to this album. It's like a hip hop spin on Zero 7 which can only be good news for me. It's got top qual rap and lyrics with some really cool sounds over the top and it put me in a good mood. A good new discovery! Lots of really interesting global influences throughout the album so it held my interest well throughout. Only thing bringing it down to a 4 star job is some songs had stressful noises like Red Eye to Jupiter.

I'm surprised with this album. I was expecting just some generic electronic samples and basic hip-hop, but I found a very deep album with some really good songs. It's impressive how these songs are recognizable in modern rap/hip-hop songs.

A decent listen, though I'm not really sure why this made it onto the list... 7/10

This album and artist are new to me. I ran kinda warm and cool (not really hot and cold) with it. A chill laid back beat would start and I’d be grooving to the moment that I would realize that I had zoned out and then think, “oh geez, is this track still going?!?” The giddy moment when he put ‘cornucopia’ in a rhyme (I just love that) to the furrowed brow when I think “did he just say ‘pee pee on’ something?” Just back and forth... The last track landed me on the warm side, and so here we are.

It definitely caught my attention when the first track made a "Space: 1999" reference. That was just the first of a lot of intriguing references. Did he just refer to "Mummenshanz"? The mix of painful contemporary realities and speculative fiction was fascinating to me, even if a lot of it is not something I want to go back to listening to for pleasure. "Red Eye to Jupiter," for example makes a "Trouble with Tribbles" reference, but I don't think I'll choose to play that one again. "To the Moon's Contractor" was...long? But there were also songs I really enjoyed, like "5,000 Miles West of the Future" and "Airwave Hysteria." Why couldn't I find more information about Mike Ladd? "Feb. 4 '99" definitely gave me a glimpse into a story I wanted to know better.

I really enjoyed this. Mike Ladd was a new artist to me. Like the Afterfuture concept throughout, and lots of interesting and inventive ideas here. Reminded me of stuff like Anti Pop Consortium in places (who I love). Only downside was I felt the album is a little long and I lost focus a bit for the last few tracks.

Very enlightening! Entertaining!

Starship N*gger, outer Space Motherfucker. one of the few times i've really enjoyed the use of the N word in music. maybe one day when i'm in the middle of the woods with no one around i might sing along. though even writing that makes me feel nervous i'll get cancelled. album started really slowly, picked up and then was actually decent. piss poor name.

Experimental hip hop and i loved it. More of this please

If I was Jewish my name would be Jared If I was Muslim my name would be Ibrahim If I was Catholic, my name would be... CHRIS! Loved this, never heard of it before.

I hadn't heard of Mike Ladd before receiving this album, and I guess I was slightly daunted by reviewing another hip-hop album after my severely negative reaction to Fear of a Black Planet earlier this week. Of course, hip-hop is a diverse genre, and it's immoral to judge someone for the iniquities of another. So, I postponed reviewing this for a few days in order to try and approach it open-mindedly. And I liked it, but I didn't love it. Mind, I get a few hints that this is a album not really seeking to be loved. From what I have gathered, Mike Ladd is a whale of an MC in the underground hip-hop brigade who happens to have been a lecturer on poetry at NYU. And I can't deny that this album is a dense, intricately constructed work. The album explicitly draws influence from Afrofuturism and, more broadly, science fiction. 1984, Blade Runner and the works of William Gibson all get allusions, and the bonkers Saturnian jazz leader Sun Ra casts an immense shadow over this album. As such, one can admire the grand scope and craft of Welcome to the Afterfuture, but one can also recognise that such a enterprise will leave some cold: some people just despise sci-fi as tedious piffle. Me, I can enjoy the occasional knee-trembler with, say, a Kubrick film or a JG Ballard novel, but I have no yearning to tackle any form of Dune. This album will appeal to some as much as it will appal others, and others like me will just consider it alright. I should point out as well that the album is rather low-key in its tone. This album isn't hook driven, nor especially virtuousic lyrically. The craft can't really be faulted, but it doesn't elate. I believe this is purposeful; the themes invite contemplation, not joy. This is an album best enjoyed alone, gone midnight. It's an album to admire, not adore. But the by, on the song The Animist, he talks about what his name would be if he were Jewish (Jared), Muslim (Ibrahim) and Catholic (Chris). The name Mike, which I assume is short for Michael, comes from the Old Testament, meaning it's a Jewish and latterly Christian name (and Michael is an archangel in Islam, though I don't know if Michael is a common name in Islamic cultures). Did he forget his own name?

I liked this album a lot more than I thought I would. Conscious and/or abstract hip-hop is always welcome. The groovy double bass throughout the album was very nice and the keyboard sounds were sometimes even reminiscent of Radiohead. The flow of Mike Ladd is varied and perfect. The only flaw of the album is that it was too long.

At first, I viewed this with trepidation (I generally don’t like rap), but it proved really good. The blend between rap and ambient worked surprisingly well.

Reminds me of Dan the Automator. I can't believe I had never heard this before!?

I like the album and it's sound alot. Only downside is it isn't available on Apple Music or Spotify. You can find it on YouTube, and I did, but only made it through half.

Neat and different.

avant hard

Hiphopin valkea puoli... Hiphopin luvattu perse.. paljas... loistaa ilta-auringossa.... Aurinko vielä matalalla... Ei hohda oranssina.. saatika punaisena.. Valkoiset posket.. Hohde.. Soolona kaveri tuottanu... Aika hyvin osannu experimentaaliset biisit tuotattaa levylle... Ja hyvin hittaa tää levy... Spotifysta otettu pois tämä albumi... Miksi? Kuunteliko spotify itekkää.. ihan hyvää se on.. erilaista hipsukka hoppia.. Music Music Avantgarde, rikotaan vähän länsimaisia tottumuksia..Ei silti kuullosta oudolta tai pakotelta rikkomiseslta. Kaveri taitaa tämän lajin... ..... niin... ....Joskus on näissä saatanallissa genreissä ongelmana se että ne ovat lyriikoiltaan vastenmielisiä.. irstaita... ja rivoja.. ehkä tämäkin oli... ei kuitenkaan hyppinyt silmille.. Referenssejä blade runneriin ja star warssiin.. se hyväksyttävää, vaikka länsimaista hapatusta.. olen yrittänyt vähentää... Taikina pallo kasvaa.. hapatteen takia.. Maha meikäläiselle ei sovi.. Amerikkalaismalli, E-Luokan kerma E-1....

(Had to go to YouTube for this one. Not currently on streaming services in the US) An experimental, dystopian future hip-hop concept album in the vein of Dr. Octagon and Deltron 3030. While not quite as enjoyable or essential as those records, “Welcome to the Afterfuture” melds IDM-ish electronica and hip hop well and doesn’t sounded dated in the least. …but I’m gonna do the thing I find myself doing a lot while navigating this list: recommend an album that should’ve been included instead of this one. The aforementioned Deltron 3030, also released in 2000, works better as a concept record, with more interesting production, unique lyrical flow and more stylistic variation. No disrespect to Mike Ladd, Welcome to the Afterfuture is a very good record, and, thus far, is the most enjoyable of the records I don’t feel belong on the list: I’m especially enjoying the stereolab-ish “To the Moon’s Contractor”, there is an Air-like downtempo feel to a lot of the songs and, just now, a reference to listening to bootlegs of The Fall, which was unexpected for a sci-fi hip-hop record. I’m just a little puzzled by its inclusion over Deltron 3030’s, given how influential and highly regarded that record is. Solid 4/5.

Amazing

It's an interesting album, even if it's hip hop, the mos interesting part is the music by itself.

I like this Mike lad. Reminds me of some chill outer space vibe nyc rapper shit. Get in with it weirdo. Noice.

Listen to this when you have more time and the wife doesn’t have to hear it.

Not on spotify

have any very good groves, but, i think that the woman singer is out of tone in many songs

I liked Phil Lynott, he was taken too soon. I actually prefer the studio versions of most of these songs but there's no denying the live versions bring a lot of energy not to mention some amazing guitar snd drum virtuosity

very interesting artsy rap album, wasn't available on spotify for some reason but the whole album was on youtube anyway. I should definitely give this a few more listens but its certainly extraordinary.

Proper experimental stuff, really enjoyed a lot of these tracks, shame theyre not on spotify

Interesting.

Cool Keith vibes. Fun existential lyrics playful instrumentations

Kind of won me over by the end! A high 4/5

first song and to the moon's contractor is really interesting

Wasn't a fan of his flow but I liked the subjects and the beats were amazing. Lots of different genres which made it a joy to listen to.

Nice surprise to see this hear. I bought this back in the day from a second hand CD shop as I was a big Company Flow fan, but it didn't do a great deal for me at the time. 20 years or so later it's much more resonant with me and still stands up remarkably well - a golden era for underground hiphop

I never heard of this Ladd before but I didn’t mind it.

Dziwna, ale miała kilka dobrych kawałków

Pretty good. Not pretty pretty good but pretty good. Reminded me of DJ Shadow. Complex interesting sound. I enjoyed the non vocal parts more than the vocals. Could be a four star with more listens

Great early 00's hip-hop. I must confess I had no idea about this one, but loved the production and the overall vibes, like a more electronic sort of hip-hop (as opposed to old-school sampling). So yeah, the "future" part in "Afterfuture" does have sense here.

Interesting chill hip hop. Kind of gives me Radiohead or Dan the Automator vibes. Not really sure what makes this 'essential' though honestly as much as I enjoy it.

I liked it, but seeing as it's 1001 albums you must listen to before you DIE... I would have rather seen something along the lines of CoFlow or FanDam or something by Automator. I think those are more influential and frankly, better examples of this style of hip-hop.

It was okay

I liked the beats, but I couldn't find my way into the lyrics of the song. Partly very difficult music to relax to. (5/10) Favourite Track: Bladerunners

Rap even beluisterd

Niet al te aandachtig beluisterd maar het was wel leuk met momenten.

Really interesting weird hip hop, sounds like Deltron 3030. Can't believe i'd not heard of him

Not bad. I'm a little surprised I haven't heard of this rapper before, I've explored a lot of underground hip-hop from this era. This wouldn't be one of my first choices to represent the genre/era... My one big complaint about this album is that none of the beats really hit hard enough. The whole album has a frustratingly ethereal quality, like aural blue balls.

I'm not very familiar with Mike Ladd, but I do like the beats.

Couldn’t really get into it, the beats are boring at some point. I see the influence in triphop and all that, also the good lyrics but will not be listening to it again

At first blush, I thought this was some random British bloke doing a bad impression of hip hop. Then I learned he was signed to Def Jux and has features from El-P and Company Flow on here. So he's valid? It started weird and stayed weird, but the kind of weird that I settled into. Not something I would seek out, and I'm not sure how much I'll return to what I liked, but there were a few gems on here. Favorite tracks: Bladerunners, The Animist, Feb 4 99, Airwave Hysteria. Album art: Can't tell what I'm looking at, but I like it. The font is great, and the Japanese script on the left is cool too. 3/5

interesting beats on this one, almost reminded me of the latch brothers from jet set radio but I couldn't latch on to any of these songs. Was cool to hear through though!

unfortunately I think a lot of hip-hop suffers in my ratings because i don't pay as close attention to lyrics, especially when I'm listening to these 1001 albums at times. This had cool moments, but never gripped me. Likely due to not hearing lyrics as closely, but hey, that's me.

Good Enough to keep my attention. Highlight Tracks: 5, 6, 11, 13

Begon veelbelovend, werd raar, werd anders. Allerlei stijlen. Al met al best leuk.

Dit was moeilijk te duiden. Een aantal erg interessante nummers. Heel divers. Maar er zaten er ook een handvol tussen die ik met knarsende tanden door moest skippen. Eigenlijk 2,5 ster, maar ik ben in een coulante bui dus rond ik het naar boven af.

It samples other songs and mixes other sounds and lyrics. It was decent. I don't think that any of the songs were that memorable. I did not feel the need to skip any songs and I did not wish any of the songs to end.

Not bad at all, had some catchy beats and sounds but a little bit long and samey for my liking but would be happy to hear again.

Well at first I really wasn't into this, then it grew on me a little then I bloody loved the last song! Really confusing. The final song was a 4/5, but the rest of it was mixed for me. Hard to know what to put!

This is a record that demands attention. Like Michael Franti, Mike Ladd turns his lyrical venom towards systemic issues and not towards the typical gangsta style that makes up much of the mainstream hip hop. There's an interplanetary thread that runs through the album that examines the dystopia we're creating, which I think is a decent idea to elevate the lyrics and tie all this together to a concept. Afterfuture is not a bright one. Airwave Hysteria may be the only total miss on this one. I guess electronic music people might like it? But will they like it for 11 minutes?

Kind of interesting hip hop album though it didn't really hook me in.

6/10.

5/10 I don’t care for this style of rap much, but there were some interesting sections and the beats were pretty nice.

Could always use with some underground hip hop. Very avant-garde and lofi, taking unconventional samples and applying them through chamber-like electric filters. First few songs are pretty decent, impressive raps with really nice beats, then dips from there with some highlights. It's very much dated, using primitive tools that would pale in comparison to what you or I have at our free disposal, but it's creative and consistent nonetheless. Props for having a song titled the day my best friend was born.

Had never heard of Mike Ladd before but I quite enjoyed this album. Interesting rhymes and production, would listen again. 3.5/5 stars

Loucura.

Thought I wouldn’t like this but it wasn’t bad at all. Decent rap with overtones of Disposable Heroes.

Wasn't really in the right head space for this one today and I think I might like it better on a day when I can pay more attention. It blended into the background...until it didn't, which was either because of explicit lyrics or lyrics about religion or Space 1999. I liked most the songs about multiples of 10 --- 5000 Miles West of the Future, Planet 10, and I Feel Like $100.

i was impressed by this album, actually. i was negatively affected by a group member's thoughts, but i do try to go in with an open mind. i'm not sure if i'd listen to this album again, but it had some cool sounds! "to the moon's contractor" in particular stuck out to me. there was some lovely indian music on this album, which was a wonderful nod to some of his upbringing in india. all lyrics were very enunciated, i had no problem hearing all lyrics, which was so important in "feb 4 '99 (for all those killed by cops)". that song title alone! i was impressed by his lyrics in this song in particular. lyrics were crafted brilliantly with metaphors!

I’ve never even heard of this, and it’s not terrible. I thought I knew all the deep in the cut underground hip-hop? It’s kind of like a poor man’s Kool Keith Dr. Octagon mashed up with Masta Ace’s Disposable Arts. It looks like it came out right between those albums too; so dare I call it the missing link? Anyway, I’m having a harder time connecting to this album then say those two above albums I mentioned. I don’t think I’ll listen to this again, even though it’s got some straight up legends on it, like El-P.

This was a nice surprise. I listened to it twice and found it Multi-layered and nuanced. I liked the more atmospheric and experimental tracks more.

Another interesting selection. This didn't sell much, was overlooked by the critics and it's main legacy is that it's on the 1001 list. That said, it's fairly interesting. I like the production, there's some adventurous samples, but the way he brings them in sounds pretty lo-fi. A lot of instrument playing is going on and not too much rapping. A bonus.

So he is fusing hip hop and avant-garde. I guess someone had to try it but I'm not sure the experiment paid off. Did it?