Usually the moment that and form of hip hop or rap starts playing in my ears I immediately stop listening, delete the album and pretend it never happened. I hate hip hop. I loathe rap.
Luckily for Lerix, the music was on my iPod, connected to my car whilst I was trying to navigate my way through some of the more confusing parts of the city. Making it impossible to navigate away without causing a multi-car accident.
The itch to hit skip started at the second song, "Last Laugh" and ended thirty seconds later- it was actually bearable... There was no reference to drug usage like it is a cool thing, no mentioning of sexual act with females he just met... The music seemed to haves bit of substance going on.
I continued my way through the entire album and I am really glad I did.
Audio Arcade surprised me so much I had to listen to it a few times. I listened with eagles ears for a reason to fault the music, for a reason to start hating on rap again but couldn't find it.
It sounds to me like most other music from the genre- it has a funky beat and a lot of synthesisers. The lyrics, as I said, seem to aim to tell a story, or to say an "f- you" to a certain group of people. Lerix seems to stand for something else, there is even an interlude of "Fur Elise" (my favorite classical composition). "Catch Up With Ya Later" is about a funeral, how many main stream rappers do that without snorting cocaine?
The only bone that I found to pick was the start of "Do It Right," because it sounded a little try hard- but then it is saved less than a minute into the song with a pretty good chorus.
Damn you Lerix! Now I have to go and reevaluate my uneducated opinion of this genre of music... Audio Arcade if you do, or don't, like rap is worth listening to, even if it is just to give it a shot.
-Koala
Stream the Album
http://soundcloud.com/thabloqmusicgroup/sets/audio-arcade-e-p
