El-P – Cancer 4 Cure

May 22, 2012 • Fat Possum Records

Five years is a long time for a musician, and I imagine it feels even longer in today's incredibly volatile hip hop scene. I'd all but forgotten about El-P besides occasionally spinning I'll Sleep When You're Dead some years ago, but it sounds like he made those five years count and has been keeping up with the crowd.

Consequently El-P's production style has changed quite a bit since I'll Sleep When You're Dead—Cancer 4 Cure has really futuristic-sounding beats with unusually-fast tempos and tons of densely-packed samples. It's a lot more chaotic than its predecessor and always sounds like it's running as fast as it can to get to the next section, bludgeoning the listener into submission on its way. It's a very unique experience, although it's more or less in line with the direction hip hop has been taking this decade into more electronic and avant-garde areas. It's not at all surprising to find El-P doing this.

It's hard to discuss the beats as there's just so much to them—pitched vocals, hardcore drum beats with an occasional Southern twist, dissonant techno melodies, and samples from anywhere and everywhere, like El-P just overturned a vat of pop culture onto the album. It works, too, though the usage of the occasional pop or dubstep-ish beat is, while interesting, sometimes out of place.

Cancer 4 Cure manages to be nicely consistent throughout, so odds are if you are loving one track you'll find the rest to be just as enjoyable. Personally I'm finding the majority of the album to be simply decent, though there are a couple definite standout tracks. In addition to three great closing tracks, "Tougher Colder Killer" is probably my favorite, with its '90s throwback samples combined with some really great heavy beats and guest spots.

Speaking of which, the guest spots in general are very well done; El-P seems to have picked some rappers whose voices contrast well with his own, so every performance is memorable. I don't know who any of these other guys are, but they do a pretty fantastic job.

Better than I'll Sleep When You're Dead? Debatable. Better than most hip hop I've heard from the last few years? Absolutely (though that's not to stay it doesn't have its contenders). Even though this isn't really one of my favorite hip hop sounds (I generally prefer a more laid-back approach than this rapid-fire sound) El-P has definitely created something his fans will certainly enjoy. I'm liking it myself, and even if I'm not totally enthralled, he's not going anywhere just yet.

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