Tracklist:
01 – Request Denied
02 – The Full Retard
03 – Works Every Time
04 – Drones Over Bklyn
05 – Oh Hail No
06 – Tougher Colder
07 – True Story
08 – The Jig Is Up
09 – Sign Here
10 – For My Upstairs Neighbor
11 – Stay Down
12 – $ VicFTL (Me and You)
UPDATE: El-P preps his first rap LP since 2007's "I'll Sleep When You're Dead."
El-P has announced his upcoming album Cancer for Cure, slated for release on May 22nd through Fat Possom Records.
The album, which has already spawned the single “The Full Retard,” is set to include guest appearances from Interpol’s Paul Banks, Danny Brown, Killer Mike, Nick Diamonds, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire and more.
In anticipation of the album’s release, El-P will perform at three events at SXSW, including the Pitchfork Day Party (Mar. 15th), Biz3 Showcase (Mar. 16th) and Thrasher/Converse Party (Mar. 17th).
[March 9]
UPDATE: RollingStone.com has the full stream of El-P's new album Cancer For Cure. Head over to RS.com to hear the LP in full.
"Cancer 4 Cure's" essence seems to present itself more as an album for people who've swaddled their lives in the liner notes of Hip Hop music.
"Off that Mobb Deep shit had me saying 'dunny.'" That's Danny Brown, the shrill-strung, wild-haired Detroit rapper who guest spits on the song "Oh Hail No" alongside Crown Heights' unruliest, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire. Brown's line appears half-way through his verse. It's not as ear-grabbing as, say, his brag about being "Inspector Gadget with the ratchet," but it resonates like a snug key to Cancer 4 Cure, El-P's third solo album. After you pick out the nuggets of Rap nerdery or nostalgia - in this case arcane Queensbridge slang of a certain vintage - the album becomes defined less by the power of its fearsome production and starts to sound more like the lyrical and beat-making musings of a thirty-something Hip Hop junkie.
These sly nods to Rap songs of years past pepper the album: A Camu Tao vocal grab propels "The Full Retard," a piano riff that comes off like a bastard relation to Kool G Rap & DJ Polo's "Road To The Riches" pulses through "Drones Over BKLYN," while horn stabs most memorably heard back during the Bridge Wars pep up the Killer Mike-assisted "Tougher Colder." Lyrically, El's rhymes stay prickly - "I'd sooner wash my dick in acid that ask what you think," he politely offers at one point - but also channels oversized gold rope ambassador Slick Rick to arrogantly advise "lick the balls." There's even a track that, ye olde linguistic roots aside, seems named for a Big Shug 12-inch, "The Jig Is Up."
Sure, you can talk about the usual cliches that are regurgitated in reviews of every El-P project - densely-layered dystopian beats! Sci-fi concepts! A song featuring Paul Banks from Interpol that seems destined to be liked by Indie Rock kids! - but Cancer 4 Cure's essence seems to present itself more as an album for people who've swaddled their lives in the liner notes of Hip Hop music. Elitist as it might seem, it's a Rap album that sounds better if you can name most of the Gang Starr Foundation. Shrug.
