A Beginner’s Guide to Death Grips

Experimental hip hop trio Death Grips was formed in Sacramento, CA by producer Flatlander, percussionist Zach Hill, and vocalist MC Ride. Since the release of their 2011 debut full-length, the ‘Exmilitary’ mixtape, the group have been revolutionising the underground music scene with their brand of brash, visceral, industrial hip hop and punk rock attitude. Despite their stunning, relentless, unshakeable sound; their style became quite diverse – for example, on their most accessible and pop-sensible album, ‘The Money Store’, the electronically based ‘No Love Deep Web’, the strange, fleeting and largely instrumental ‘Government Plates’ and the entirely instrumental ‘Fashion Week’.

Maintaining a passive/aggressive relationship with their audience; though Death Grips have pleased fans and critics alike with intense, genre-busting music but not without moments of disappointment, turbulence and longing that the group actively perpetuate with their fan base and the music industry through cancelled shows, their snake-like approach to interaction with the public on social networking websites and Internet forums, self-leaking their album ‘No Love Deep Web’ which lead to the termination of their major label contract with Epic Records (not to mention the very NSFW album artwork), forcing fans to wait 8 months between the release of the first half of their double album ‘The Powers That B’, ‘Niggas On The Moon’ and it’s second half ‘Jenny Death’, the unexpected break-up announced with a scribbled message on a napkin, the equally unexpected announcement through their Facebook profile that they ‘might make more’. Death Grips are truly unpredictable, always doing what they can to keep their fans and critics at the edge of their seats.

If you weren’t swept away in the whirlwind of what has been Death Grips’ career to this point, buckle up and get ready to get stuck right in:

Exmilitary (2011, self-released)

A conversation with any Death Grips fan who has been on the rollercoaster ride from the very start will tell you that the best way not to be afraid of their music is to start right from the beginning with their debut full-length because of just how polarising the sonic and lyrical content is. Tracks like Guillotine and Takyon will either attract or repulse with their crawling low end roar and thick bass strikes, while Ride’s screams will either come across as a contrivance or an abstract craft. Littered with ingenious samples ranging from Link Wray’s Rumble to Pink Floyd’s Interstellar Overdrive, ‘Exmilitary’ is rowdy, bewildering and paints a hideous picture.

Opening track Beware begins with an excerpt from a Charles Manson interview which establishes the sociopathic persona of Ride; a strange, volatile, devolving character who waxes lyrical about excess one minute, police brutality the next, and criticizes the information age after that. On certain tracks, Blood Creepin and I Want It I Need It (Death Heated), it can be a little over the top but otherwise, ‘Exmilitary’ makes for an intense listen; purposefully unattractive, outrageous and frightening, it tells a tale of how addiction robs people of all rational thought and disposition.

Essential Listening: Guillotine

 

The Money Store (2012, Epic)

Though rooted in traditional hip hop, ‘The Money Store’ is not particularly made for hip hop traditionalists. Ride’s twisted lyrics and screamed vocal delivery are swallowed by the chaotic production but are worth reading into as they add a whole new dynamic to the overall product. Where violence in hip hop is usually glorified, on ‘The Money Store’ it becomes nothing more than a harsh fact of life. With album artwork straight out of a manga from hell, Ride creates images of paranoia, intoxication and life in the gutter while production-wise, Hill and Flatlander perfect the sonic template laid down on ‘Exmilitary’ without repeating it..

On Get Got we are followed by police officers who aren’t actually there while our ears are filled with swirling synths that bleed into each other. On I’ve Seen Footage we are treated to meaty videos of police brutality. Lost Boys features an ambient sound and off-kilter beat that is somehow mesmerising, wrapping Ride’s homage to the lumpen-proletariat in its atmosphere. Each track in ‘The Money Store’ has a personality of its own thanks to the meticulous attention paid to detail. While the album is not in any way an intellectual one, it does require more attention than primal urge. Forward-thinking, layered, noisy; it reveals more with each listen and though Kanye West’s ‘Yeezus’ and the work of Clipping and Ho99o9 have clearly been touched by its sonic innovations; it may still be considered to be way ahead of its time.

Essential Listening: I’ve Seen Footage, Hustle Bones, Hacker

 

No Love Deep Web (2012, self-released)

Though the album is mostly remembered for the dispute between Death Grips and their label Epic over its release date which resulted in the trio leaking the album, putting an erect penis on the cover and being dismissed from the label; the music and lyrical content of ‘No Love Deep Web’ holds up on its own. Their most sonically raw album, MC Ride’s energetic delivery is amplified more so than ever before here and showcases the most aggressive and paranoid sides of his persona and just how dark and intense his lyrics can go. Flatlander’s production here is more subdued; opting for minimal use of samples, larely processed beats alongside the odd snippet of live drumming from Zach Hill and a heavily digital, intangible and clean approach.

Though the album displays the group’s more basic elements, it is no less gritty or frightening than before and even offers some of Death Grips’ finest tracks. Bass Rattles Stars Out The Sky features hard hitting boom-bap beats and eardrum-shattering distorted sirens. No Love is driven by a dense, lumbering beat, while Lil Boy’s layered instrumental twists and turns as the song moves from one phase to the next. Though the album is perhaps at times too minimal, Ride paints any otherwise colourless patch on the album black and red; pushed to the forefront so he can deliver messages of mortality, mental illness, torture and the entirely abstract. Though on first listen it is less invigorating than previous releases; ‘No Love Deep Web’ is still a solid album.

Essential Listening: Come Up And Get Me, Lock Your Doors, No Love

 

The Powers That B (2015, Third Worlds/Harvest)

Released in two parts, separated by eight months during which time the group allegedly broke up; ‘The Powers That B’ shows Death Grips dive to the utmost depths of two different aspects of their sonic template on each half: on ‘Niggas On The Moon’, we see them at their most esoteric and unusual: a sort of art-rap project that mashes samples of guest vocalist Bjork’s voice against Ride’s own oft-odd cadence which by the album’s close becomes rather incessant.

Second half ‘Jenny Death’ is essential Death Grips, with tracks as taut, muscular tracks like Turned Off and The Powers That B more than holding their own against the likes of I’ve Seen Footage or Hustle Bones. With the addition of live bass, guitar and organ tracks; Death Grips fully realise their information-age punk aesthetic more fully than ever before on ‘Jenny Death’ whereas ‘Niggas On The Moon’ feels more so like a collection of B-sides and outtakes than a fully realised conceptual piece.

Essential Listening: Say Hey Kid, Turned Off, The Powers That B, On GP

 

Avoid: Government Plates (2013, self-released)

Speaking of B-sides and outtakes, ‘Government Plates’ was a surprise release from Death Grips cited by the group as neither an album nor mixtape but merely “where [they’re] at right now”. Frankly it shows, not just in retrospect as some of the sonic ideas presented would be reinvigorated on ‘Niggas On The Moon’; at the time the LP was generally seen as lacking by even the most hardcore of fans.

Their loudest, shortest and most straightforward release to date, ‘Government Plates’ is sadly also their most repetitive, lease cohesive and least lyrical as Ride takes a backseat to allow Zach Hill and Flatlander more control over the project. Though the first few tracks are truly impressive, the latter stages of the album are truly underwhelming, sounding more like ideas than fully fleshed songs and offer very few new ideas. Though still as aggressive, unique and attention grabbing as ever, on ‘Government Plates’, Death Grips do little to maintain same due to the lack of impact of previous releases.

Essential Listening: You Might Think He Loves You…, Whatever I Want (Fuck Who’s Watching)