Exmilitary cover

Exmilitary

Released

If Exmilitary had been the only thing Death Grips had ever released, they’d be legends. This 2011 self-released mixtape is full of uncleared samples of Jane’s Addiction, Charles Manson, Link Wray, Beastie Boys, Pet Shop Boys, Black Flag, Bad Brains, Magma, Pink Floyd, and 2 Live Crew, but it’s what instrumentalists Zach Hill and Andy Morin, and vocalist MC Ride, bring to the table that pushes this bleak PTSD nightmare of an album into the red and into listeners’ brains as a permanent psychic paradigm shift. Ride’s voice sounds on the edge of panic as he shouts “I am the beast I worship,” as Hill and Morin create an unholy collage of jackhammer beats, synth blasts, and disorienting reverb and echo effects. The brazenly hijacked Caribbean parade beats of “Thru the Wall” will make you want to leap onto a car’s roof and stomp your way into the driver’s seat. This is as close as hip-hop’s ever come to the fear-inducing queasiness of the Butthole Surfers’ classic mid ’80s albums.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Return of the Mac cover

Return of the Mac

Prodigy, The Alchemist
Covert Coup cover

Covert Coup

Curren$y, The Alchemist
Imperial cover

Imperial

Denzel Curry
Chromakopia cover

Chromakopia

Tyler, The Creator
Some Rap Songs cover

Some Rap Songs

Earl Sweatshirt
Supreme Clientele cover

Supreme Clientele

Ghostface Killah
awE naturalE cover

awE naturalE

THEESatisfaction
Rare Chandeliers cover

Rare Chandeliers

Action Bronson, The Alchemist