SpaceGhostPurrp - Blvcklvnd Rvdix 66.6 (2011) [Self-Released] // Grade: B

Sometimes I read physics articles about shit like m-theory and quantum mechanics. I like to think that in a parallel universe, the smartest version of me is wildin’ out on some physics professor shit. Maybe I get the elbow patches, cultivate a neatly trimmed wisdom beard and then employ a hot T.A. who lets me put my big bang in her black hole. Back here in our reality though, most of the articles I read go over my head, because, I’m in fact, not a theoretical physicist.

The other night I was reading an article about the super massive black hole at the center of our galaxy. It just sits there sucking shit into it and compressing everything that comes near it. At the same time, ever since we, as a race, discovered how to use radio waves, we’ve been polluting space with all our bullshit transmissions. Somewhere in space, floating around there’s errant broadcasts of 2 Live Crew records, videos of dudes playing Mortal Kombat from Japan and of course that best of Three-6 Mafia set dude from your college radio station did sophomore year. All those signals are hurtling towards that super massive black hole right now to be distorted and compressed under the weight of immense gravitational forces and heat.  Shits wild if you think about it – there’s a giant hard drive at the center of our galaxy absorbing information. Listening to SpaceGhostPurrp, it sounds like his style was born in the heart of a black hole, a product of disparate and random influences cast off from Earth. In reality he’s from Florida, which is pretty close to a black hole.

Blvcklvnd Rvdix 66.6 is SpaceGhostPurrp’s new mixtape, but really, this thing plays closer to a full-length album or I suppose a “street album.” Full of his insular pastiche production style and forays into different southern rap sub genres. To say that this sounds like Three-6 Mafia, 2 Live Crew, Godzilla, DJ Screw and Mortal Kombat as filtered through a black hole may sound like some cute bit of descriptive text, but it’s actually pretty apt. Purrp pulls Luke’s fascination with fellatio and sex, but mixes it with early Three-6 Mafia’s interest in macabre evil atmosphere. All the while the whole thing slips out of focus and time distorts as if the ghost of DJ Screw was given the ability to edit time itself. Oh and the narrator from Mortal Kombat chimes in with his encouragement while Godzilla appears with his criticisms. Godzilla is always a dick like that, quick to break a motherfucker down, never trying to pick anyone up.

As soon as the tape starts with “Possessed” you know you’re into something kind of weird. It’s a song that sounds like what 40 yr old middle American parents imagine Tyler, The Creator sounds like – that is, over the top evil and demonic. But, as soon as you settle  into the evil, subdued crunk of “Possessed” the record slows and then speeds up for “Suck a Dick For 2011,” a trunk rattler that implores everyone to suck a dick for 2011. A couple of songs later you’re at “Get Yah Head Bust,” which surely will be the hottest joint at voodoo clubs this summer. It’s exceedingly dark, tribal (haven’t used that word since 1998) and strangely hypnotic. There are babies screeching through the back of it, samples of the Mortal Kombat dude laughing and random sirens throughout the track. Overall it gives you the feeling that if anyone ever went through the trouble of hiding hidden backwards messages in songs, this is probably the song to have them.

The entire tape is a pretty hypnotic experience, it runs close to 80 minutes but honestly that time tends to fly by because the songs sort of lull you into a weird space of enjoying Purrp’s flow and mood but not really paying attention to his lyrics. In a way it’s ambient music for people who like their ambient music to go extra hard and disturbing. That’s a bit contradictory. But, maybe, it’s one of those things that doesn’t really make sense until you’re 70 minutes into it and you’ve been chanting variations of “suck my dick” for over an hour.  It’s one of those time dilation situations where you swear only 30 minutes have gone by.

The ambiance Blvcklvnd Rvdix 66.6 creates is it’s strong point and it’s weakness. It gives the album an awesome cohesiveness, but because you sort of just lose yourself to the mood you can easily miss out on standout tracks like “Mac Name Purrp” which is the closest thing to evoking the hypnotic elements of screw I’ve heard, without actually being screw. And it’s possible that some of you might not make it to the end of the tape to hear “Stoner Gang Raiders” featuring Main Attrakionz and Sorthuman (who name checks Mater Suspiria Vision), a new Southern anthem for starting fights in parking lots if I’ve ever heard one. You could also easily miss out on the melancholy haunted house soundtrack called “My Hood” or “Been Fweago” which is possibly the most satanic ode to money since Puffy made the “All About the Benjamins” rock remix.

If there are any criticisms to be make about this album, they’re these. The volume and mastering (if there is any) is all over the place, but that’s seemingly becoming the standard nowadays. The other is it’s incredibly long running time. As it stands, it’s a weird, long journey that takes you to all kinds of places which is awesome. However, if you cut this 22 song opus down to about 12 songs, you’d have an album that cuts directly to the point and demands the attention of people instead of existing behind and around them. But, that kind of directness definitely doesn’t fit in with Purrp space based worldview.

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- Behold the Destroyer