Snail Mailbox: Death Grips - "Ex-military" (cassette)

"I don't wanna take my time going to work. I got a motorcycle & a sleeping bag & 10 or 15 girls. What the Hell I wanna go off & go to work for? I got all the money in the world. I'm the king, man... I roll the nickles. The game is mine; I deal the cards."

- Charlie Manson (2006?)

After watching "Beats, Rhymes & Life" (Michael Rapaport) this fine evening, I soon realized that A Tribe Called Quest and Death Grips are actually 2 very similar entities: Pioneers of the new sound - Simple as that. Now, I could try to compare Death Grips' overall sound to some over-saturated commercial bullshit like say, M.I.A. Odd Future, DMX, Beck, [insert additional clichés,] etc... or attempt to slap some sort of half-assed genre tag on it. But that really wouldn't do either party a lick of justice whatsoever; With that said, it's damn near impossible to sufficiently describe the sounds [barely] contained within Sides A-B of the FRESHLY-pressed Ex-military cassette tape.


Death Grips' premier mixtape is RAW, unhinged, abrasive, Punk Rock, speaker-blowing loud, Boom Bap Hip-Hop, dance-able, futuristic, multi-layered, 808-tinged Reggae, sampled-based, groundbreaking, and much more. MC Ride, Flatlander, and Zach Hill... along with Mexican Girl, and Info Warrior display their sheer creativity on full BLAST throughout. Artists of influence during the time of recording [sample source] include: David Bowie, Black Flag, Link Wray & His Ray Men, Beastie Boys, Arthur Brown, and Pink Floyd. It should also be of particular note that unofficial "group leader," Flatlander has directed roughly 5-6 assorted Death Grips music videos, thus far.