SortaHuman – Lysergic Bliss (2011) [Self-Released] // Grade: B+

Where to start with SortaHuman? Supa, Snaxx, and JoeyBagadougnuts are on their own shit, and of all the folks emerging on this next wave they seem to perhaps be the most unprecedented. It’s easy to see how Main Attrakionz came out of Oakland; it’s easy to see how eXquire came out of New York; but with Supahuman–and perhaps Beautiful Lou to a degree–it’s a lot harder to see the precedent. What rappers can you name from Alabama? I had to consult Wikipedia and I was kinda surprised when the list didn’t have any names from the South’s rise to prominence over the course of the 2000′s. So, listening to SortaHuman it’s not so easy to see where they’re coming from.

But, it doesn’t matter. More important than where they’re coming from is the fact that they’re not coming from anywhere that you would have anticipated. This record is pretty much everything that I love about murky Southern drug rap without the artifice. This is a group of three dudes bangin’ out tunes from their home studio, and keeping it real. They rap what they live, and while what they live is familiar, but it’s not hackneyed. The beats switch back and forth from epic monuments of Southern swag, to slow-mobbin’ cruise music. The opposition creates a great dynamic, and over the course of the record SortaHuman continually pick it up and put it down. And it’s not surprising.

If you can unfocus your ears over the course of this record there is an implicit impression being rendered. The record is essentially the soundtrack to a day in Huntsville chilling with SortaHuman. You get up, you come down, you chill, you get up again. In 2011 in this country there are a lot of people using drugs either recreationally, or as a means to cope with the lot we’ve been given. Drugs give us a way to have control over our lives where we might not have it otherwise. We’re all victims of our own minds and emotions at times, and doing drugs allows us to overcome that. And so, the implicit message here on Lysergic Bliss is self-control. Not self-control produced by restraint, but self-control produced by taking control of your life. These are 3 dudes who have decided that they’re not cool with what standard fare Hunstville has to offer, so they’ve made some changes. Drugs alter the mind and emotions, and creating art alters the circumstances.

I’ve never been to Huntsville, by I’d imagine it’s a lot like South Florida. Not a huge arts movement, and the majority of the community fits the description of the stereotypical American Drone. Tell me if I’m wrong, but I’d imagine Huntsville is not incredibly cosmopolitan, and standard life is probably pretty underwhelming. So, what do you do if you’re trying to live something more rewarding than what is given in Huntsville? You do drugs to change your mindstate, and you make art to alter the terms of your existence. You step into an alternate universe, and there goes Lysergic Bliss. This isn’t just a record, this record is the residue of an existence that these dudes built. They didn’t just record some songs–nah, it’s actually kinda the opposite. They changed their lives, and one of the products of the changes they made is music. And, much like their wave-riding contemporaries who have chosen to change their lives in similar ways, the outcome is similar.

Making music is one thing, but putting together a cohesive album like this, building an identity through the way you create and manipulate sound, manifesting your own take on the world while the world provides you no clear means to do so is pretty radical. So yeah, I definitely spent 10 hours listening to this album last week, and I’ve listened to it plenty more since then. And I definitely got slightly ignorant at moments. I also caught “oh shit” moments, but mostly I just marveled at the magnitude of the world that SortaHuman whips around in. It’s like some larger-than-technodrome shit that is way more fluid. I recommend immersing yourself. From Snaxx witty removed humor, to Joey’s baritone deadpan matter-of-factness, Supa’s amped-up chop-heavy chants, heavy collaborator Dizzy D’s laid back but enthusiastic interjections the album won’t leave you wanting at all. Full on flow. And these dudes have mad stuff coming so, just be prepared.

Note: I gave it a B+ because, like LWH’s recent album, I know this record is only the first taste of what’s to come. This music isn’t flawed, but I know it’s only an indication of what’s to come, and so there has to be room for progression.

- Zachg