El-P is a well regarded Producer and Emcee from Brooklyn, and the founder of the Hip-Hop label, Definitive Jux. The guy has been in the music business since the mid 90s, and is famous for his work with Company Flow, along with his previous solo album, and the Hip-Hop masterpiece that is Cannibal Ox’s The Cold Vein. That sure is a good album. He also recently produced another album I love, Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music.

Cancer 4 Cure was released just 1 week after R.A.P. Music, so it’s been quite the year for El-P. While it’s well known that El-P is a phenomenal producer, it sometimes seems that people forget just how good of a rapper he is, too. His flow is weird, intricate, and confusing (in a good way). He doesn’t drop guest verses too often, but when he does, it’s mind blowing and seemingly revolutionary (Case in point, his work on Mr. MFN eXquire’s Huzzah (Remix)).

Before I go into detail about this album, I’ll flat out say right away, while I really like this album, it’s no album of the year. While there’s a whole lot of “Right” in it, there’s also some noticeable “Wrong”. I’ll get the wrong out of the way right away so that we can get to the praising. I will say some of the tracks are not immediately great, and some of them just aren’t great. There aren’t any bad tracks on this album, but some of them are just noticeably weaker than the stronger parts of the album. Whether it’s the weird not rapping on Works Every Tim (I do really like Interpol’s Paul Banks on this song in the chorus), or somewhat mediocre hooks on the second half of the album (For My Upstairs Neighbor), this album does have noticeable flaws.

But a lot of these flaws can be pushed aside because of jut how hard this album is. The production is amazing, shown at its best on opening track Request Denied. A weird, dissonant sounding guitar feedback plays, with the sound growing ever so slowly. A vocal sample drops, ending its speech saying “Storm the Studio”, and then aggressive percussion kicks in, threatening synths explode, synths both wobbly and quiet. The guitar becomes alone again, and then El-P drops his first verse of the album, and he sure does go in on it.

The bangers on this album are the best part of it. The Full Retard (For the easily offended, this is a reference to the movie Tropic Thunder) has a sample of “PUMP THIS S***”, and El-P raps hard and mean over the weird, wobbly synth lines. Then there’s a weird bridge with a high-pitched voice speaking of peace and love, which is cut off by gun shots. Then the beat changes up (Something El-P’s been doing a lot of this year), and El-P drops an even HARDER verse that closes out the song.

After the weird Works Every Time, Drones Over Brooklyn drops, featuring a heavy, very dark beat, which I enjoyed quite a bit. Then two flat out amazing Hip-Hop group cuts drop. The first being Oh Hail No, which features Mr. MFN Exquire and Danny Brown. El-P’s first verse is aggressive and unforgiving. Then, Mr. MFN Exquire drops the verse of the year. His verse is absolutely mind blowing, the first time I heard it I had to go back and listen to it 5 more times. His flow is immaculate and hits with power I haven’t felt since El-P himself had a guest verse on Exquire’s Huzzah! remix. Exquire’s verse is so hot that Danny Brown’s verse, which is pretty great, kind of ends up as an afterthought. Then Tougher Colder Killer continues the pattern, with El-P dropping another hard, unforgiving verse (“To the mother of my enemy, I just killed your son/ He died with his face to the sky and it can not be undone”. Daaaang), and then Killer Mike and Despot drop great verses, and they sound great over the beat. Side note, Despot is easily the most underrated rapper on earth right now.

The rest of the album is a lot like the first half, except a little less interesting. The production remains immaculate and interesting (I love the Das Racist sample on True Story). El-P’s rapping, however, gets a little (Only a little) old after a while, but that’s probably just me. And it’s not like that matters, because the production is just so fantastic that El-P’s rapping is kind of an afterthought (And considering how good of an Emcee El-P is, that’s astounding).

Summary: El-P’s Cancer 4 Cure may be slightly inconsistent, but it’s full of phenomenal production, great guest verses (MR. MFN EXQUIRE), and hard hitting tracks with El-P’s rapping at its best.

Choice Cuts- Request Denied, The Full Retard, Oh Hail No, Tougher Colder Killer

4/5

Stream The Full Retard and Tougher Colder Killer below (WARNING: Because it’s Hip-Hop,expect some language). Cancer 4 Cure is out now on Fat Possum.