Reviews (page 3 of 8)
*No music, just rap and some foul language
As others have pointed out, the sounds and instrumentation is more interesting than a lot of the flows. Airwave Hysteria is a highlight for me, but for an album that could say more it was a bit of a letdown. Again, the shadow of 3030 is hard to escape.
He certainly wants to express something. I did not get him. 2,4
This isn’t as bad as people are saying. There is something that’s not bad with this. The lyrics and beats are decent. There’s a bit of Speech from Arrested Development or Eminem in here, even if it never approaches anything that good. It all just never adds up to something incredibly amazing or terribly interesting. 2 1/2 stars, but rounding down to 2 because it’s a little bit less than average. Hey, I guess this is as bad as people are saying.
album as a whole was only ok but "these goldfish know jiu jitsu" is a great lyric
3/28 Shitty rap trash
00’s Hip Hop ⭐️Planet 10
Synes det lyder som MF DOOM light
Aldrig hørt om det her, virker som et dybt bizart valg til listen. Han rappede fint og sådan men de instrumentale dele varede for eeeevigt.
Wtf did i just hear? I don't want any more of that, ever, please.
I had never heard about this album or Mike Ladd before, but listening to it for the first time, it was pretty good. A lot of the songs on the album have such a good sound and vibe.
not as good as Joni Mitchell’s Blue
This was fine. It's telling that my favorite part of the album was El-P's verse on "Bladerunners." I don't think I'll be listening to this again.
The kind of rapping I quite like. Intelligent rhymes
A bleak portryal of the future -- which is to say -- he's no exactly wrong. Not an easy listen, but there's always some new sounds throughout the record to keep you interested.
Abstract hip-hop and experimental spoken word built on sparse beats, ambient textures, and dragging, half-spoken vocals unfolds with deliberate, heavy pacing. Listening feels like wading through thick mud where each step takes effort and momentum never fully arrives. The concept might be intriguing and texturally rich for some, but the sluggish flow and vocals just feel annoyingly slow.
Mike Ladd’s Welcome to the Afterfuture is a dystopian, avant‑garde hip‑hop blueprint whose political edge and futuristic anxiety anticipate the kind of socially charged storytelling Kendrick Lamar later perfected. Ladd’s blend of experimental production and critiques of power structures mirrors Kendrick’s own evolution into a generational voice. Where Ladd masks discontent in sci‑fi futurism , Kendrick transforms similar tensions into Pulitzer‑level narratives and cultural commentary . Listening to Ladd today feels like hearing an early, raw sketch of the thematic ambition Kendrick would bring to the mainstream. Better than expected.
This has more of an early 2000s sound than I would expect, given that it’s 2015. Very massive attack adjacent. I enjoy the more spoken word flows from him.
Really good!
Awful!
Muy bien para dejar de fondo mientras hago scrapbooking. Era para 2/5 pero el aleatorio de Spotify me trajo muy buenas canciones después de este disco, así que es 3/5
I had no idea what to expect, but this was really unique!! Not really my vibe though, too slow for my liking. Fav song is ‘Airwave Hysteria’.
2.8 2x different, but good
ladds ladds ladds
Uneven effort but interesting mix of hip hop jazz and space music.
This is such a weird album to me, not just for its inclusion but kinda just in general. It's not bad perse, but it's obsolete at this point, and one look at the Wikipedia page suggests it was obsolete then. I don't know who wrote this into the book, it might've been Mr. Ladd himself. It's not even like bad really, but I can think of a number of albums that belong here instead. I could probably even think of rap albums from 2000 that belong here instead if you gave me enough time. Just a baffling inclusion. Favorites: Airwave Hysteria, The Animist, Feb. 4 '99 (For All Those Killed by Cops)
Honestly fun to have on while doing stuff, I enjoyed it enough. Probably 3.5 stars, nothing stood out to me as exceptional
eu sem entender prr nenhuma
Not something I'll revisit but didn't completely hate it.
Doido, por bem e por mal. A estética futurista já está bem datada, e o álbum tem apenas 26 anos. Muitos dos instrumentais são bem interessantes, com aquela mistura de rap experimental com trip hop. O ponto fraco do disco são os vocais. O MC não é dos melhores, sendo gentil com ele. Mas pelo menos é algo diferente, em um gênero que desesperadamente precisa de coisas diferentes. Entendo a inclusão do disco na lista, pra tentar diluir a mesmice do Rap na representação aqui. É legal ver algo diferenciado, que busca ritmos diferentes e aborda temáticas fantasiosas. Mas nem sempre o resultado é inteiramente alegre. Vou voltar atrás e deixar de ser gentil, os vocais aqui são péssimos. Se esse fosse um disco instrumental, ele passaria, seria uma experiência OK. Mas os vocais estragam bastante a experiência. Os versos de Rap são medíocres e as sessões de canto são ridículas. E pra piorar, possui uma duração interminável. Depois de um tempo o disco perde todo o seu charme e fica bem chato. A capa é legal pelo menos. 1.5
Blah
I was pleasantly surprised by this album as I often am. The production was very interesting
Thought this was a bit 'meh' but then I added 'To the Moon's Contractor' to 4 different playlists
I liked this much more than I thought it would.
4/10
When it first started I thought I wasn't going to enjoy it at all - but in fact it was fine for a n hour of early Sunday morning listening. Nothing really stood out though and I very much doubt I will revisit it.
I enjoyed the album. I don’t know that’s its groundbreaking, but there are interesting concepts and techniques employed at times. It’s a hip hop album with a mix of some electronic stuff. At times reminds me of things like Mc frontalot or Mc Chris or Dr Ocotopolis - it has a similar feel.
Wouldn't something that is after the future still be the future? This is just another stupid album title. I didn't enjoy a single minute of this.
Nice and groovy. 4.5 bumped down to 4.
I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4, practically on the strength of the final 4 tracks really hitting a great stride to end the album on. I mean, I’ll be really blunt; this barely qualifies as a rap album. It’s not because Mike Ladd doesn’t have decent vocals or decent wordplay, but it’s because he’s doing slam poetry. If you’re coming into this expecting a rap album (and believe me, I was with one of the top reviews inciting MF DOOM comparisons), you will be turned off within the first 6 tracks, and nothing this album does afterward will save it, especially with the abstract instrumental choices that take some time to get used to. There’s no “riding the beat” here, and there’s no rap flow to slide on & appreciate, at least in the traditional sense. This feels like experimental trip-hop with a lo-fi lean, though that doesn’t really explain the style well at all. It’s got elements of electronica & D’n’B in there, but it’s just an amalgamation of ‘futuristic’ production choices meant to capture a vibe. It can feel a little pretentious at times, but once you get used to it, it’s honestly kinda strong. From a performance standpoint though, you have to meet this album where it is, and after the first 3 tracks, it can be very hard to give a damn. I personally nearly gave up on this thing after “No. 1 St.”, which is just slurred to hell (speech-wise), and never really captures whatever vibe it thinks it’s going for. It made me think of the Dr. Octagon album we got a while back, and that was truly its lowest point. After that though, the vibes of “To the Moon’s Contractor” just clicked really well with me, even if it’s about 3 minutes too long. That track is the hand that leads to the second half of this album, which finally kinda hits a stride of sorts. “I Feel Like $100” is abstract as hell, but it just gives off an [adult swim] vibe that I liked. “The Animist” never really hooked me like that on account of the beat, but there’s something about his vocal delivery that I admire. The final 4 tracks finally hit a consistently strong stride; “Red Eye to Jupiter” is so aggressive about space that it loops around to being fun (I mean, what other track has “outer space motherfucker” in its chorus), and the chaotic nature just worked for me. “Welcome to the Afterfuture” has a loose Kraftwerk vibe to it, at least with the intent of feeling like you’re on some kind of transportation, and I enjoyed that ride. “Wipe Out on the Wave of Armageddon” is just a really good instrumental track with a great vibe & great progression, and “Feb. 4 ‘99” does a great job of setting the stage with all these visions of beauty & peace in the world, contrasted by his rising anger & the swirl of the instrumental as it drops the precision strike of “Off duty demons in denim” to cap off the juxtaposition of the ugliness of police brutality. His delivery feels like listening to a civil rights leader in classic form, and his passion comes through in a way that’s undeniable. It’s the track that caps off a run strong enough for me to bump this up to a 4. Granted, I totally understand the 2.57 on the site – the lyrics aren’t really online like that, the instrumentals are abstract, and coming in with the wrong impression can easily sink the album. It’s also a rather long 62 minutes, and one that isn’t very consistently satisfying. However, those first 3 / at least 6 of its final 7 tracks, along with a steady stream of at least interesting vibes (far more than I can say for something like the Dr. Octagon album we got a bit ago) just made it so this album never sunk for me. I don’t think it’ll ever get to a 5 for my tastes, but I feel very safe with bumping this up from a 3.5 to a 4. I am glad I heard it, though it does just kinda make me wish MF DOOM were actually on this list so people wouldn’t make such boldly wrong comparisons. Still though, even if it’s not DOOM, it’s a good vibe all the same, and I did like it.
Struggled to really get into this one
Don't remember it from last week.
rare bialy rap ktory nie jest popularny, a nadal sluchalny
Similar to a lot of the def jux albums of the time. verbose interesting beats, but sometimes too much.
Great mix of sound and styles across the songs. I don’t pick up lyrics well on first listen of anything, so I hope when I listen again this isn’t like, full of messages I don’t like, ha
Something different.
Reminded me of the James Lavelle UNKLE record, which I loved.
Avant garde, experimental hip hop
This was good in some parts, just ok in others, and occasionally underwhelming. The songs that leaned into the jazz rap and more atmospheric bits were nice. I didn't much care for the meandering, mumbling delivery throughout. That is until the end when he was pretty expressive. 3/5
I see this came out in 2000 - trying to decide whether in retrospect that was the right time to make a claim like "welcome to the afterfuture" or maybe that was a bit premature. He failed to predict 9/11, Trump, Covid, smartphones, social media, the rise-and-fall of DVDs by mail, or the popularity of high-end athleisure wear unless I missed it. The music itself was pretty good. The lyrics are like yeah totally cool if you're into that kind of thing.
I enjoyed this. Good beats. Good energy. I don't really have enough context for where this dude fits in the hip-hop world...maybe some of that context would make this a little more meaningful. I probably won't come back to it, but happy to have listened to it.
I know nothing about Mike Ladd, but his roots in the spoken-word scene are hard to miss. These songs sound like poems with musical accompaniment, heavily informed by the jazzy trip-hop. I'm not surprised he's more popular in Europe than Stateside—this feels pretty separate from the stuff you hear 'round these parts, even in the indie scene. Ladd is clearly smart and has a POV, and this is pleasant enough, but it's also kinda tedious. 2.5 stars.
Reminds me of Kid Cudi, Meat Beat Manifesto, POS.
some cool stuff but nothing done really well imo
I did not expect this. I listen and have listened to a lot of music but I am astounded about how much I don’t know. How did I miss this? I blame my so called friends. Anyway, much better than The Black Album
I think this might be my most recent album! 2023! I have heard of Mike Ladd as a producer but not as an artist himself, so I'm curious what it will be like. It's interesting, I don't know if I love his flow to be honest. It's almost like a hip-hop poetry blend which in theory I would love but in practice it was okay. The whole album felt way too long for me. But I would listen to it again.
Nice rap with some novelty. 3.5 stars
I was surprised this was a hip hop album as Mike Ladd doesn’t sound like a rapper name. After listening to it, I’m still not sure he sounds like a rapper - the production is more interesting than his flow.
Quite experimental and maybe I’ll listen again
Concept hip hop I'm all in.
You can often tell an album by its cover. For example, what do we see here? A view from below of a roadside pole entangled in a multitude of wires. When a wire fails, they simply throw in a new one. Anyone who's been to Asia has witnessed this scene firsthand many times. But the thing is, in Asia itself, I quickly stop noticing these wires, even though these "nests" are practically everywhere — my eye gets numb and takes them for granted. That's the same with this album — its sound evokes the synthetic future of a sci-fi dystopia. The hip-hop here, like that pole, is woven with bits of post-rock and jazz, yet everything sounds uncluttered and even minimalist. It would be perfect as a soundtrack for, say, Mirror's Edge. It's surprising that this little-known record appeared in the first edition of the book and is still there. It's probably worth a listen.
Wow this was painful. No business being on this, or any list.
Listens: 2 Standout Tracks: Bladerunners Reminds me a LOT of Kool Keith's alter ego Doctor Octagon, and a bit of Deltron 3030 insofar the subject matter and lyrical content, but it's also a bit too tryhard. There are some okay beats, but none of the songs were particularly noteworthy or mind-blowing.
Listing to this album in 2026 is interesting. A good listen but nothing for me to come back to
Not sure what to say about this album, but I just didn’t enjoy it.
OK but not for me.
Nah, elevator hip hop music.
Weird but would happily listen again
idk dude, sure
Really smooth hip-hop, not as commercial as M&M, but far tighter production values. I really enjoy the mix of the album.
Liked: Takes More Than 41, No.1 1 St., I Feel Like $100 Added: I Feel Like $100
A very vibey experimental rap album, kind of cool in places, when it works it really works. I like the lofi feel to it all.
Album started off strong and slowly tapered to a low boil. I will have to give this album another listen in the future. Lyrically impressive.
I'd never heard of this and I'm not the biggest hip hop fan by any means. However, this album grew on me as it went on. I gave it a couple of listens and think it deserves more.
Runs out of steam a bit but I really like the production and uniqueness of this. Someone else k had never heard of in my life too.
Hmmm. This was just ok. The backing music was interesting and the lyrics were interesting and beyond the usually misogynistic twaddle spat out by most contemporaries. However, I felt the lyricisms wasn’t as good as it could have been and his pitch kept on making me think of Vanilla Ice. MF Doom is more accomplished and would have filled this space better.
uummmmmm no me veo esucchando esto
Ikke nokka æ visste at æ ville høre på, men det ville æ jo egentlig, fascineranes hiphop.
It wasn't bad just wandering around. It had a vision and a mission but, since Deltron 3030, exists it's just kind of difficult to hear this and not immediately wish to be listening to that. Sounds mean but I found myself being reminded of that particular album about every other track and how I'd rather be listening to it?
Correcto
2 out of 5. I liked how trippy this album gets at times.
Some songs are just a pain to listen to. Didn’t like the production vocals and lyrics on this album. I’ve got to give it a harsh rating because this rating expresses how much I enjoyed the album afterall.
Dziwne dziwne, jakby pomiedzy wszystkim i jakby było niczym
Neat concept and pretty enjoyable!
¿Me estás diciendo que esto es parte de los 1001 álbumes que tengo que oír antes de que muera? Este álbum fue tan bueno, revolucionario o impresionante para un grupo de personas que decidieron integrarlo en este proyecto. Te voy a dar el beneficio de la duda. Tengo gustos musicales simples y mainstream. Si estas son las tan aclamadas “buenas canciones” según los críticos. Puta madre, deja me pongo a escuchar a Taylor Swift hablando de su ex y Sexyy Red hablando de su concha. No me voy a perder de mucho. Acerca del álbum, los beats me dan un derrame cerebral, el ritmo de la voz no sincroniza con la melodía. The Animist me hizo sentir como si un agente de la cia me estuviera haciendo waterboarding por 6 minutos. Escuche algunas otras canciones de otros álbumes suyos y mientras no diga una sola palabra. Lo podría escuchar. No soy el público del spoken word, quiero algo simple y que suene bien, desde mi punto de vista, esto es malo o más que malo, es un gusto adquirido.
Did not like
Not bad
I feel like this is one I gotta register to in a year or two. But after first listen I’m not into it.
Not really my cup of tea. Majority of the album I didn’t connect with but some of the ambient songs touched a space I can enjoy. Never been one for this high brow hip hop, but the sampling is definitely futuristic and influential on a style of hip hop that is critically acclaimed. I struggled to get through this though and won’t come back to it
Why listen to this when you can listen to Funcrusher Plus?
Ok Mike.
Needs an additional listen
Very cool experimental listen
i wanted to like it i swear
Totalmente desconocido para mí. Me ha gustado un poquito, pese a no ser de mi cuerda.
Get the concept, just not for me.
I really only vibed with To The Moon's Contractor, but I did really vibe with it.
Good, but too long.
handful of moments that catch my attention but this is over an hour and is very samey. Doesn't really ever hold onto me and feels a bit one-note
if this didn't overstay its welcome so hard i would probably be more into it. highlight of the listening experience was identifying a sample in "Airwave Hysteria" so i guess that was my favorite. fun experimentation but the kind of thing i've heard done with more competency and coherence elsewhere. "The Animist" really makes clear the valuable distinction between stream-of-consciousness rap and spoken word. I like that there's some urgency in the ending track but then it sort of loses the plot lol.
Interesting album, not really connecting for me beyond being interesting and general competent but I do feel like it makes sense that this is on the list. Also regrettably too long
I'd never heard of this artist before. I like a lot of the production -- it has that psychedelic, experimental, future bass sound that reminds of the LA Beat Scene. And he's got obvious skills. But sometimes he backpacks so hard it sound like he's rapping for his college professor. I'm happy to learn about Mike Ladd, and all respect to him, but they should take this off the list and add some Dilla.
This album is insane. Some prog hip hop?! Absolutely nuts. Mike Ladd's got a unique flow and voice, and great lyrics. To go along with it, some really out there production and beats. Sounds like it is from the afterfuture. What a great pick for the book, I probably would have never even heard of this without it.
Couldn't get past 3 songs, what the actual is this. RYM: N Saved a song: N
I wasn't looking forward to listening to this because I'm not into hip hop and rap music. This album surprised me, however. There were so many different sounds and instrumentals, and the vocal parts (few compared to the musical parts) flowed with stories. I found myself enjoying the atmosphere of the album. Another album I would rate a 3 and possibly revisit.
Review - an interesting hip hop album from an artist I'd never heard. A bit high concept. Not a huge fan of the early naughties futuristic hip-hop vibe but it was ok generally, some funny lyricism. Not in a rush to delve further into the discography. Rating - 5.5/10 Need to listen? YES
The first time around I gave this a 2 because the beats were interesting and I appreciated the social commentary. Those are still positives but this album just doesn't work for me.
Sick rhymes
Nerdy and dense hip hop- there’s a lot to respect here but a bit less to enjoy. Feels like this must have been influential Madvillain and MF Doom, who took that next step.
this whole project has shown me that this is my preferred style of hip hop. i like the more mellow slower paced vocals. but the sort of industrial sound of this was great.
Couldn't help but be let down by this after reading reviews referencing MF DOOM and Deltron...don't think this is really anywhere in that league. It's not bad by any stretch, but feel like it should have been something I'd gravitate to a lot more given the era and proximity to the Definitive Jux style of hip-hop that I loved in college. Best track by far is the one featuring Company Flow, which isn't a coincidence I don't think. Some decent atmospherics and beats which probably pushes me to a 3 rather than a two, but ultimately kinda forgettable.
Deltron 3030 did it better. Some of the songs with a solid beat were alright for me (Airwave Hysteria, Bladerunners). The spoke word was pretty awful. Not a whole lot here for me.
I have been thinking lately that I always react badly to artists/bands I have never heard of but at least then you get to be pleasantly surprised. This is a sort of space/hip-hop opus. I liked that it didn’t have samples but lovely instrumental parts underneath some great lyrics.
This kind of y2k “futuristic” sci-fi inspired stuff feels very tired and dated. This bores me and the lyrics are not particularly inspired.
I’ve heard worse hiphop- but I’ve heard much better. The choice was give it 2 stars or 3 so slept on it. The next day, I really couldn’t come up with what any of the songs sounded like so that’s why it gets the 2 stars.
Never heard of this before. I really enjoyed it. Flow is similar to Kool Kieth at its best, but I dig the spoken word stuff too. A little unfocused and scattershot though. Some tracks just don’t land, but overall a solid listen.
I found some of his choice of words to rhyme to be very interesting and it made me want to listen more but then there were long musical interludes that were boring. I wish it had more lyrical content because I was interested in what he was rapping about. The last song was very interesting.
Good beats and lyrics. Thick to get through
Neither high nor low, except maybe some of the sophomoric lyrics that are attempted to be wrapped in high brow drivel. A low key vibe with the occasional ear-catching eyebrow-raising lyric.
Some good ideas buried among the mess.
1.5/5
Just get into this at alll - not for me
moody rap, speaks to some out there
Good stuff.
Ok
Absolutely strange album, which takes a lot of me to say. Somewhere between the vivid lyricism of MF DOOM and the uninhibited ramblings if Bladee. You can’t really tell that this thing is a trip-hop album until a few songs in; “Takes More Than 41” is the first real indication of that. Some of the rapping on this is unbearable, but some of the production is so strangely forward-thinking. “To The Moons Contractor” was probably my favorite, with its sudden dive into some jungle-oriented production. Then “Red Eye To Jupiter” almost did enough to revert my thoughts about the rapping here, I really enjoyed this one. Last, “Wipeout On The Wave Of Armageddon” turned things in a more placid direction, which ultimately just confused me about this projects direction even more. I’ve listened to this twice and have no clue what to give it for a score. I like that it’s completely unique in the context of this list, but sometimes not in a good way. I’ll lean 3/5 because I’ll likely remember how whacky it was
Man, the back half of this album absolutely slaps.
6/10
The production was interesting enough to pull this up to a 3 but I wasn't blown away
real torn on this one. giving it a coward's three
IT was only OK. Would not listen again.
I don't know when I'll ever listen to this again, but it was a nice experience. 4/5
I love obscure hip hop but this bored me constantly. Mediocre flows over average beats.
I don't want to live in the Afterfuture!
I had never heard of this to be honest but I really enjoyed it a lot, very good I think
really strong opening tracks! starts to lose me a little bit after, but at no point was i not enjoying myself. it gets pretty silly at points, but i have a feeling Mike Ladd was well aware of this and was having fun with it. really appreciate the experimentation with sound and style and think this album is really underrated.. i was surprised to see the lack of lyrics for it on genius and lack of reviews for it on rym.. not a perfect album, sure, but it's a real fun one that i think people don't give enough credit for. also, metamonad mentioned!!!
Kind of generic. The beats on Animist are a bit redeeming.
Nice but not my favorite
The sound is decent, but not great. Felt very mixed on this.
A decent hip hop album but it didn’t really blow my mind.
The production is on point, but I spent the entire record wishing that literally anyone else was rapping. As a fan of the genre and early 00's hip hop, this is anything but essential. Listen to MF Doom or Aesop Rock instead.
Decent
Not at all familiar with this artist. Was prepared to not like this album. Wasn’t as bad as expected.
spoken word on a whole new level
Trash
Didn't really enjoy, and loses a point because the weird noises upset my dog.
ちゃんとしたヒップホップアルバムだけど特筆するところは見当たらなかった。歌詞は好みに近いかもしれないけど、母国語ではないアルバムを聞くときはフローとかインスト、音像を重視してしまうな。
I liked this immediately and then halfway through wondered if it really was that good. A few more listens confirmed this is good and interesting, a great surprise that's rewarded multiple listens.
Honestly, this is a head scratcher. It’s pretty cool in some spots, but I just don’t find it very mind blowing. I didn’t find much to keep me engaged for most this record.
Mostly very enjoyable. It was heading towards four stars, but kinda lost me in the later tracks. Reminds me of Delton a little bit, although certainly not quite as weird.
Very interesting concept album, I didn't not enjoy it. It worked really well for me as background while working on something else. I don't think I would reach for this again.
Some interesting concepts here. This is kind of like 90s electronica meets hip hop, which I thought was different in a good way. Mike Ladd has good flow and some intriguing lyrics, but overall this was only okay.
Do not recommend unless you like to listen to weird sounds and music that is supposed to seem "futuristic" but instead sounds like a toddler decided to play on a keyboard with random sound bites and then someone high on acid remixed it. (side note: "To the Moon's Contractor" Kinda sounds like a remixed version of the robot song from Spongebob where Spongebob thought Mr. Krabs was a robot and that is the only reason I am giving this 2 stars.)
First impression: overly stylized, pseudo rap something. It's not horrible, but it's also not revolutionary or all that good or enjoyable. Bland, and just too much digital modification. I have no idea what any song is about. Rapping is also very monotonous and dull. I'd guess East Coast. Songs are too long. They often start one way and end another, but not in a pleasing way. Each track comes with a realization by the listener like "oh, I'm still listening to this song?" It's not a great album. It's not the worst music that I've ever heard, but I can't give this good marks. I don't care to ever listen to it again.
if i was jewish my name would be jared favorite song: the animist
that was an interesting listen. who is this guy? never heard of him.
Some interesting moments with the production and creative mixing but the spacey digital effects were overused. Interesting listen. Not something I need to revisit.
This is like watching a noir film. A slowly unfolding drama with stark contrast between hues. Each character is mysterious half hidden in the shadows or under the brim of a hat.
This is an odd one. Context is important. And I don't have any. I can use some trigonometric skills to figure out the where and why he exists and extrapolate why he made it onto this list. But is that assessment even important in reviewing a piece of art. I like to think are exists in and of itself but I know that's not true. Time and place matter. Intent matters. Understanding that intent also matters. And here - words matter. Sound matters. I can't tell if I will listen again but I did hear enough to know that maybe I should. Not sure if I was won over but I was engaged. It's a start.
Awful. Not my thing at all.
Pretty bland and lacking in character
Decent enough hip hop but nothing I'll remember in a week or two.
i liked it a lot! MF DOOM handed him the torch. great all around
Not my taste.
bella vibe for the album as a whole, nessuna canzone stands out per ora
This is very good. I hadn't come across it before but will certainly come back to it. Mid 3s at least.
Nice
So...the album(partially) greets me in Japanese, yet, is written in English at the bottom(by a man living in France). At this point, I'm already confused at what I'm getting myself into. Don't blame Mike Ladd. This was released in the year of Y2K, and we really thought we would be wayyyyyyyy in the future by then(which is funny, because now 2000 looks so damn vintage). Anyway, this is a fun concept album, with too many filler tracks in the middle which seem to drag on. Oddly enough, the closing track has nothing in common with the rest of the album. It's not a masterpiece, and I won't be re-listening to this album anytime soon, however, I will agree it needs to be heard. Favorite Track: "Planet 10".
Neat! verses stand out the most. sounds like an inspiration for Scroobius Pip.
Poor sludge
Nope just didn’t like this
4. Final track is a ripoff or WAS ripped off, but I can't place the imposter right now.
Liked it less than I feel like I should
I appreciate what this is going for, but I really don’t think it succeeds all that often. The more atmospheric touches just feel kind of tacked on and not all that creative
Never heard of this and thought it was pretty good. Its a real sign post to the rap and hip hop that came after and El-P's success with RTJ. Its dark and complicated and doesnt talk down to you. It has ambition and intelligence.
nice one
I don't know, I feel like I would appreciate this album more if it wasn't on this list. What merits this hip album to be on here over the countless other hip hop records I can think of in the last couple of decade that aren't on this list and deserve to be? It's not that it's bad, it's that there's plenty that is much much better, and frankly, more significant to the underground genre.
какой-то непонятный жанр, загадочный) реп для элиенов? почитала в биографии что он спокен уорд поэт, а также что у него лейбл Лайкмэдд (креативно, поэт что ли?), ну да, наверно это так и звучит. но не для меня
There are some great moments in here but it really kinda drags overall.
Some of this was really atmospheric and groovy but a bit of it was pretty corny too
"These goldfish know jujitsu, better watch yo'self"
like. las primeras mas q las ultimas. un poco rock pero no molesto,
Better than Coldplay
Horrible flow, chunky production, not influential or popular at all. No idea why this is on the list other than the guy who made this list consistently exhibits an awful taste when it comes to hip hop. There’s a couple tracks I don’t mind here, mostly the instrumentals (lol), so I’m not giving it the full 1. But come on, man.
I actually wanted to like this one
Not bad, I was able to finish it.
Some compelling stuff on here, I can see myself coming back to this one.
Definitely in the experimental hip hop genre that I dip into from time to time looking for someone that I'll like as much as Aesop Rock. There were some brilliant lines in this, it's so much more interesting than most hip hop. Definitely parts that sound like exercises in word play mind, doesn't grab me like I'd hope to. A lot of fairly underwhelming instrumental stuff too. Absolutely worth another listen I think, it's too intricate to appreciate from one listen. Doesn't have that immediacy to make me think it'll ever be a 5 though. 3.5.
Didn't land at all. Gimmicky, sprawling, really boring rapping. Don't know how it found its way into this list. I enjoyed the sample on Bladerunners, couldn't work out whether it was an oboe, or something more sinister.
Had no idea what to expect with this, but certainly wasn't a futuristic themed hip hop album. Hmm, I'm not sure. I thought I might be on to something great in parts, but it didn't quite materialise. I thought "bladerunners" was the stand out track. The opening and closing tracks were good too. 3.5, but I hoped it would be more
I thought this was very boring, very hard to get all the way through.
some parts of this are actually good and i wish there was more stuff like that but this just doesnt catch my attention that much when u have so many parts that just sound repetitive and uninspired
Some of it was kinda mediocre and I have listened to way better, but I genuinely liked the tracks with more experimental and jazzy vibes. I feel like the N word usage by a white rapper aged like fucking milk tho :').
2/5 I liked the experimental part, but I've heard better 2000s hip-hop. There were a few songs I liked, but it was overall very meh. Don't know why this is on the list.
Shite.
This is.... wordy. I mean, there are SO MANY FUCKING WORDS. Like, this guy, what does he do? He talks and talks and talks and talks and talks. I can't fucking keep up. And the beats can't either. It's kind of instructive to listen to this just after Odelay. Beck has a lot of words, too, and many of them are nonsense. But they're backed up by some great music. This album? Nope. The music is secondary, maybe tertiary: it's dim, muddy, uninteresting and, ultimately, buried under just un-fucking-bearable amounts of blathering about whatthefuckever. 2.
It’s kind of funny that when this list includes an American rapper from this century, it’s an ex-pat that lives on the continent. I only listened once which really isn’t enough to understand the record. I liked the musical ambition with a pretty cool range of beats, synths, samples, and acoustic instruments. His flow is pleasing but not particularly distinctive. The cover art is cool. Right down the middle on this one. The Britney reference to begin the album made me laugh.
2/5 - I liked the first 5000 miles track. I lost the thread soon after, and didn’t care to pick it up. It was kind of exhausting to listen to, but I bet reading the lyrics would be worth a run through.
Not sure if this is for me. Seems to be a little all over the place with it’s sound.
ehhhh not for me - ended after track 5
When I started listening to this I thought it was going to be another crass modern hip hop album, but I ended up enjoying the journey. i enjoyed the middle part of the album from Bladerunners to the Animist. The end was ok except for Red Eye to Jupiter which was ghastly. To the Moons Contractor was probably my standout track. It was chill and full of vibe and funk. It did not finish the album wanting to discover more, but I enjoyed the listen. 3 stars
Love this and felt cooler than I would otherwise while listening.
I listened patiently waiting for the moment to come where my mind opened to this one. It did not arrive.
Solid - from start to finish.
This album was great. Cool mix of drum and bass and hip hop.
I usually enjoy alternative hip-hop and musically this was good. Mike's flow and rapping seems good but I also didn't play close attention to the lyrics which is my own fault - but there's 1001 albums and I'm busy. I might've scored it higher if I got into it more - but it was definitely okay.
meh
interesting hip hop album
Reminds me a bit of a Fatboy Slim album, which is not a good thing.
It's weird and I like that
Very ambient and mood driven. Sets a cyber punk tone with a hip hop sense.
I was surprised to like this one this much.
2000s hip hop. Interesting electronic beats. Indian beats.
I really wasn’t feeling this album at all. His style of hip hop just isn’t for me.
An okay album but no stand out songs.
It's hard to rate this justly since the harder rap isn't super my thing. I can't relate to some of it, but it wasn't my favorite vs like Nas, Wu-Tang, and other stuff.
First Listen; 2; Wanted to like this given the aesthetic it was going for, but just didn't do anything for me. No real memorable hooks, music sounds flat as well. And if you're going for this lo-fi production style, I feel like you need to have clever lyrics, which this really doesn't either. Favorite Track: To the Moon's Contractor
Hier schrik ik van
oh jeez. oh JEEZ. that was atrocious.
this experimental hip-hop album didn't grab me, though i'm not sure it was really trying to. mike ladd definitely tries a bunch of different sounds, ideas, production techniques, etc. on this album, but they don't combine to a cohesive whole. whenever i'd start to enjoy a track i was listening to, some annoying pitch-shifted voice or other annoyance would snap me out of it. i'm glad he's trying something new but this didn't need to be on the list. 1.5 stars. favorites: bladerunners
A lot of it feels uninteresting to me. There isn’t much going on and it’s like that for over an hour. It’s not bad, a good amount of the rapping is pretty good, and that final track is incredible, I wish everything on this album was of that quality. The build-up, the passionate delivery, the vivid language makes it feel like the closer to a much better album. 3/5
Beck and chilled rap ok
2.5 stars
Didn't really care for this
Good album for focus
Meh, not too bad. Room for improvement.
Bonus points for rhyming teepee with peepee
Learning the hard way I should give any album that makes me mad a second shot just to be safe, because this is far better than I felt the first time through. It’s not good, but it is unique and interesting, and Ladd clearly inspired a number of newer artists that have brought a little more cohesion and focus to this style. There’s some amazing songs in the mix here along with some duds, but it’s enough to make me want to check out more.
This was cool. Wasn't familiar, which is a bit surprising given he's from Boston and I used to live there, but hey.
Great flow. Great lyrics. This is basically local hip-hop for me and I had never heard of it. That's a shame because it's great.
Better than the average hip hop album, but the average hip hop album sucks.
Mike Ladd ist ein US-amerikanischer Rapper und Produzent aus Boston, dessen Arbeit im Bereich des alternativen Hip-Hop angesiedelt ist. Welcome To The Afterfuture wurde 2000 veröffentlicht und in mehreren Studios erarbeitet, darunter Mike’s 4Track in Brighton (Massachusetts) und Mischungen bei TME Studios in New York; weitere Arbeiten fanden in UWMSC Studios statt. Die Produktion nutzt sparsame Beats, elektronische Texturen und freie Songstrukturen. Das Album bewegt sich im Genre Hip-Hop mit experimentellen Einflüssen und lyrisch dichten Texten. Zu den bekanntesten Stücken zählen „5000 Miles West Of The Future“, „Airwave Hysteria“, „Planet 10“ und „Bladerunners“, die thematisch dystopische, gesellschaftliche und technologische Fragestellungen berühren. Ladds Stil verzichtet weitgehend auf eingängige Refrains und setzt mehr auf narrative und klangliche Vielfalt. In seiner Wirkung richtet sich Welcome To The Afterfuture an Hörer mit Interesse an unkonventionellen Beats und Texten im Hip-Hop; das Album entfaltet seine dichte Atmosphäre besonders bei wiederholtem Hören. Bewertung: ein konzentrierter, eigenständiger Beitrag zum alternativen Hip-Hop.
like, i can tell its good just not my cup of tea at all
2.75 Interesting, but mostly forgettable.
Lyrically I could get down with this album, but the production itself felt so dated for an album that dropped in 2000. Felt more like something I would expect in the early 90s. The other issue is the often the production didn’t feel like it fit his delivery, with many times Mike Ladd rushes to get what he wanted to say to hit the beat notes. Just kind of all around a disjointed album that had a lot of potential to it.
Didn't really enjoy this. It felt boring.
Takes more than 41 - not a great voice. Previous songs had nice beats
Doesn’t grip me but I get where it’s good, two stars.
Never heard of this before. Honestly didn't listen close... I'm painting my kitchen and just need background noise... but it sounded good.
This is in the running for the worst album on this list.
Never heard of him before. Enjoyed this though.
You might think that you can win me over by referencing sci-fi masterpieces. You would think correctly. Favorite track: "For the Moon's Contractor"
3.5/10
First listen to this album and to Mike Ladd. It's very good.
Альбом не перейшов перевірку часом. Допускаю, що в 2000 він звучав цікаво порівняно з клубною лихоманкою від Джей Зі, Мейса з Дідді та компанії. Якщо хотілось показати щось цікаве та підземне з того часу, то є дуже очевидні круті варіанти: Company Flow, Cannibal Ox чи Operation: Doomsday МФ ДУМА. Скоріше за все укладачі просто не шарять)
Я в абстрактному хіп-хопі не дуже шарю. Цей альбом послухав і нічого не запам'ятав.
The second song reminded me this is truly an album from the year 2000!
It tries to be hip hop and electronic at once. For me it's more of a background noise album.
So glad music didn’t go in this direction
This was kind of mediocre, not a fan
The mix of spoken word poetry and the clever turns of phrase kept me engaged. There were some really impressive tracks but on the whole it didn’t really hook me and don’t think I will be listening to this album again.
Genre: Abstract Hip Hop This one of these picks from the book that makes you think one of their brothers/sisters was an editor. This is not by any means a total stinker, but it seems out of place. It doesn’t seem to have been any sort of forerunner or leading light in any way. The internet barely knows it. Listening to the whole thing, it’s certainly made by a talented fella, but it’s just totally okay. Experimental and quirky, but not very re-listenable, and certainly not “before you die” type material. 2/5
Eh? I guess?
solid hip hop, nodding my head without caring for lyrics
Futuristic Hip Hop. Unfortunately, it sounds rather unpleasant. It's like expecting cool, sophisticated cyberpunk futurism, but getting a tattered, scrap-metal post-apocalypse instead. Probably enjoyable for a select few. 2.5/5
This started out quite well but I lost interest after a few tracks and then it became background music. Maybe not the ideal day to catch me on, sorry Mikey Ladd!
Sounds like Temu El-P
I had no idea who Mike Ladd was and was unaware of the music he was creating. Turns out he’s a rapper. A French rapper at that. I’m not the biggest hip-hop fan, even for “real” music, it’s never really been about the lyrics for me. I’m more about the music or the groove, or the riff. So, hip-hop is pretty low on my list of music to listen to for pleasure. As I was preparing my dishes for the church Thanksgiving potluck, I listened to the album. I got a sense of it. Did I finish it? One might say, no. I might say I was really busy this weekend, so give me a break. However, what I did hear of the album was fine. It wasn’t something that blew me away. The opening track 5000 Miles West of the Future has a killer groove. EL-P, of Run the Jewels, pops up on track 5, Bladerunners. I do love me some Run The Jewels. I’m sure a hip-hop head could find much more to like. So, if you're into hip-hop, this album will definitely mean more to you. If you’re not a hip-hop fan, you can live your life never hearing this album and be just fine.
Torn between a three and a four. Had a very 90s hip hop feel, perhaps too much given the year it came out. There were a few other elements that gave it something extra but it didn't feel like it did much more than earlier artists had already done.
This was slightly disappointing to me because of the length and its questionable inclusion on the list. However, there are some interesting moments musically and it's certainly better than a lot of the other hip-op on this list. 2.5/5.0: Mixed
this album reminded me so much of a grand dont come for free by the streets. this one takes the edge slightly because the beats don't sound like they were made in the basement of the guys house and the delivery is slightly better(though not by much). i also appreciate the socially conscious lyrics
I really liked this, laidback hip hop vibe. Good blend of styles and influences but seemed pretty coherent with it. It will go into my rotation. Mr Ladd has a degree in poetry, did a lot of spoken word it seems. Good find.
The ‘abstract’ beats here are fantastic, if a little overblown and stretched out. The lyrics on the other hand? Well, there’s a few bits that are science-fiction stuff, like the opening track, but the rest are variations on a vague theme of... well, just read for yourself a sample from The Animist: “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!” Yep. I really don’t know why this is on the list either. It’s not essential listening by any means, but it is certainly nice enough. Nice enough being a common theme of the list.
I thought I knew every obscure rap album back in the day; this one slipped by me. All the magazines I’ve read, message boards I’ve lurked, documentaries I’ve watched - this album was never mentioned. Experimental, jazzy type hiphop with average to below average lyrics and flow. I might have liked this when I was younger, but now it just feels awkward to listen to.
I had never heard this before. I actually enjoyed it a good bit. The lyrics to the Animist about listening to 'bootlegs of the Fall' was making me laugh it was all very unexpected. It was refreshing to hear rhymes that didn't revolve around the same 3 subjects and the beats were alright
Not bad stuff, I wish there was more experimental stuff like this and less boring classic rock in this list.
1/5
Blind album and artist. If the afterfuture sounds like this, I dont wanna live in it.
One of the more obscure albums on the list. Half of "Welcome to the Afterfuture" is rap, with the other half being more experimental. The songs I enjoyed the most are "Planet 10" and "The Animist". Those tracks have some great instrumentation. If the 10-minute track had more lyrics, I would've enjoyed it more. 3 stars for "Welcome to the Afterfuture".
Some of it was good, but a lot of it did nothing for me. It was also long and had me zoning out at times. I appreciate getting something different, I'm just not sure what makes this deserving of the list. Overall: 2/5
Favorite track(s): 5000 Miles West of the Future, Red Eye to Jupiter
This guy Mike is pretty good, 1 point off because it's a bit long. 4/5
Soundtrack to a dystopian future (or present). The atmosphere just makes me sad, but I don’t hate it.
i like niche experimental hip-hop from the 2000s, but this is far from a must hear. i liked it more than most people on this site for sure. aside from some questionable bars, I found it pretty interesting. like a worse less psychedelic Quasimoto
Look, it's not that it's bad, it's that it's really bad... To be fair to it, it has some okay tracks but come on it's pretty shit overall. 1.7
Absolute shit
New to me, and great! Thanks, British dude from the 90s with an otherwise basic bitch taste in music!
Pretty good, three stars
I like this. Some weak bars in some songs, but overall writing is good and production is interesting and diverse. This is good
This was much better than other ratings give it credit for. Raw, experimental, eccentric trip hop. Great beats and flows that often sound ahead of their time. Neat find!
Have never heard of this artist before. There were some good ideas on this album, but he attempts too much overall. I think it would have been better if it was more focused. 2.5/5 Probably won’t listen again
2 in a row , unable to listen to whole album, just not my taste
No idea what this is or who this is. It's Hip Hop, but not as I know it. I like that it's different the usual rap I tend to hear, especially the lyrics. Interesting musical approach too. It didn't all work for me and it was lacking in the melodic department, but points for being different.
Surprisingly had never heard this. It's really good
Not a fan
Not really my thing. I think it would be good for a really chill evening so I may not have been in the mood. I'll need to revisit.
I enjoyed this album listen! This album felt like futuristic hip hop music mixed with electronic elements which helped create a very unique and fresh sound. Overall, I dug this album and would give it a listen again in the future!
Sounds like this guy listened to too much Mobb Deep and Massive Attack. Update after Track 7: I think this guy is genius.
Mike Ladd – *Welcome to the Afterfuture* (March 2000, Ozone/75 Ark) is one of hip-hop’s earliest fully-fledged Afro-futurist concept albums. Written and produced almost entirely by Ladd, it was tracked on a battered AKAI 4-track while he was still teaching poetry at NYU, and it plays like the field-notes of a man trying to wire Sun Ra’s brain to a dial-up modem. Below is a track-by-track lens on the **lyrics**, **music**, **production**, **themes** and **after-life influence**, followed by a concise **pro / con** summary. -------------------------------------------------- 1. LYRICS – “Where’s my floating car, my utopia?” -------------------------------------------------- - **Voice & Perspective** Ladd raps in a conversational, half-sung spoken-word register that lands somewhere between Gil Scott-Heron and late-night talk-radio conspiracist. He rarely bothers with internal rhyme acrobatics; instead he piles up images, proper nouns and punch-lines until the scene distorts into surreality: > “Break-beats from Thailand over the Klan chapter in Croatia / We’ve come a long way from migrating crustaceans.”¹ - **Science-fiction as race-fiction** Every sci-fi reference (Blade Runner, Star Trek, Space 1999) is used to interrogate *now* rather than *tomorrow*. The “afterfuture” is the moment *after* the future failed to arrive for Black and Brown people. Tracks like “5000 Miles West of the Future” and “Red Eye to Jupiter (Starship Nigga)” literalise the Middle-Passage in space-travel metaphors – “starship” equals slave-ship equals police cruiser. - **Police & State Violence** “Feb 4 ’99 (For All Those Killed by Cops)” closes the album with a quiet roll-call that memorialises Amadou Diallo and ends with a children’s playground chant dissolving into vinyl crackle – one of the most understated protest songs in hip-hop. -------------------------------------------------- 2. MUSIC – Lo-fi jazz-punk broken in three places -------------------------------------------------- - **Harmonic Language** Ladd’s chord palette is late-night jazz (phrygian & lydian voicings) filtered through a broken cassette deck. Horns are sampled, stretched, then re-played in real time so they *feel* out of tune with themselves. - **Grooves** Drum programming switches from swampy New Orleans bounce (“Planet 10”) to glitched-out drum-&-bass (“To the Moon’s Contractor”) without ever quantising the swing. The result is a loping, seasick funk that predates the “wonky” beat scene (FlyLo, Hudson Mohawke) by half a decade. - **Silence as Arrangement** Long stretches are instrumental; Ladd lets the beat *drift* so the listener notices tape-hiss, room-tone and clipped reverb tails – techniques indie-rock kids were using, but almost unheard in 2000-era rap. -------------------------------------------------- 3. PRODUCTION – “One huge pre-amp” -------------------------------------------------- - **Gear** AKAI MG-614 cassette 4-track, Ensoniq EPS, cheap Radio Shack mics, a borrowed Moog Source. Ladd purposely overloaded the pre-amps to get “Charles Stepney with a hangover” warmth.⁴ Bass-lines are often a single mono take bounced *three* times, each bounce adding another layer of saturation. - **Collage Ethic** Bollywood strings, Hindu chant vinyl, Speak-&-Spell bleeps and *Blade Runner* dialogue are layered without tempo-matching, creating a *ghost tempo* – you feel a pulse even when the drums drop out. - **Mix Philosophy** High-end is shaved off everywhere; the record *lives* in the mid-band. That mid-range murk – part tape wear, part conscious EQ – makes the album feel like you’re overhearing a pirate transmission rather than playing a pristine CD. -------------------------------------------------- 4. THEMES – Afro-futurist dystopia before it had a marketing budget -------------------------------------------------- | Theme | Track(s) | How it’s handled | |---|---|---| | **Failed Modernity** | “5000 Miles…”, “Airwave Hysteria” | Ladd lists the techno-promises (jetpacks, Mars condos) that never reached the ghetto. | | **Surveillance & Paranoia** | “Bladerunners”, “No. 1 St.” | City as panopticon; samples of police scanners, modem hand-shakes, subway P.A. | | **Spiritual Nomadism** | “The Animist” | He re-names himself across religions, suggesting identity is firmware you can re-flash. | | **Gentrifier SF** | “To the Moon’s Contractor” | 10-minute instrumental that *soundtracks* the eviction of Earth’s poor to lunar colonies. | | **Mourning as Resistance** | “Feb 4 ’99” | No slogans, just names and dates – the quietest track is the most overtly political. | -------------------------------------------------- 5. INFLUENCE – The ghost in the underground -------------------------------------------------- - **Direct Seeds** – *Deltron 3030* (May 2000) was already in the can when *Afterfuture* dropped, but Dan the Automator cites Ladd’s tape-collage rap as proof “you could be *this* weird and still tell a story.” – El-P’s *Fantastic Damage* (2001) compression techniques mirror Ladd’s cassette-slam; the two traded distortion recipes on the Company Flow guest spot “Bladerunners”. – Shabazz Palaces’ *Black Up* (2011) essentially re-casts *Afterfuture*’s mid-range haze and Afro-futurist poetics in the era of Ableton. - **Scene Legacy** The album is ground-zero for the “post-rap” continuum: cLOUDDEAD, Dalek, Saul Williams, clipping., even Earl Sweatshirt’s *Some Rap Songs* absorb its willingness to let the beat *fall apart* and to treat the rap voice as *one more noisy layer* rather than the centre of gravity. -------------------------------------------------- 6. PROS & CONS – Should you take the trip? -------------------------------------------------- **PROS** ✅ Visionary Afro-futurist narrative that still feels contemporary. ✅ Production innovations (lo-fi saturation, ghost-tempo collage) pre-date & influence the beat-scene. ✅ Lyrical density rewards headphone archaeology – references to Ballard, Sun Ra, Diallo, *The Fall*. ✅ Emotional range: bouncy humour, paranoid dread, quiet elegy in one 55-minute suite. ✅ Features one of El-P’s earliest guest verses; historic Company Flow alignment. **CONS** ❌ Mid-range murk can feel *uniform* – several tracks (“Wipe Out…”, “Takes More Than 41”) dissolve into background ambience. ❌ Ladd’s laid-back delivery is an acquired taste; listeners wanting technical double-time rhyme acrobatics will bounce off. ❌ Pacing issues – strongest material is stacked toward the *end*, so Side-A can feel like a warm-up. ❌ Conceptual weight occasionally topples into self-indulgence (10-minute instrumental, spoken-word vignettes). ❌ Has *aged* in the TikTok era: no obvious singles, no hooks, no viral 15-second moment. -------------------------------------------------- 7. BOTTOM LINE -------------------------------------------------- *Welcome to the Afterfuture* is not a perfect record; it is a *necessary* one. It forecast the intersection of Black speculative thought and experimental production that artists like Flying Lotus, Shabazz Palaces and even Kendrick (*DAMN.*’s reverse-play structure) would later mainstream. Approach it expecting *head-nod bangers* and you’ll leave disappointed; approach it like a dusty Sun Ra pamphlet that happens to have a beat and you’ll understand why, a quarter-century on, the album still sounds *dislodged in time*. Spin it loud at 2 a.m., lights off, headphones on – and when the tape hiss swallows the last chord of “Feb 4 ’99”, the real world outside your window feels a little more like the afterfuture Ladd warned us about.
I did not enjoy this at all - too many beep boops.
Album had some track with some nice beats…album was ok. 2.5 stars
Decent enough, nothing really jumped out at me though.
Not for me. Raps weren’t the best and the flow and the beats never worked for me. Wasn’t a lot of or entertainment value.
I feel like I see the idea, but they failed on the execution.
not my thing 1/5
Diet-wu-tang beats and a laid back flow. Chill and fun to listen to but extremely forgettable.
Quite a mixed bag. The poetry slam on the last track is alright. Some of the groovy, synth lounge parts aren't half bad, either. Unfortunately, the rap parts are pretty terrible and drag down the overall experience. Still, it's better than Kanye. But really, what isn't?
I think the creator of this list should have stuck to genres that they were familiar with. Maybe stay away from hip hop.
No thanks
There is something about a British accent and rapping that instantly makes me want to skip an album. I did listen but felt it to be a chore.