Mars - Slippers & Aceyalone (2016)
September through the years: from my September 2016 list, also featuring The Bad Plus, Vince Staples, and Clipping
LA funk band Slippers has two volumes of this collab with Freestyle Fellowship rapper Aceyalone. They also have a similar collab with his crew-mate Myka 9, but I haven’t heard it.
Separately, these two artists drive hard in their own narrow respective lanes. Aceyalone and Freestyle Fellowship were a big part of the west coast underground that emerged in the 90s, with an emphasis on rap skill and less-rock-oriented beats like the similar Native Tongues movement on the east coast.
Couldn’t find the lyrics to investigate, but moving to Mars is used as a metaphor for escaping the destruction of late-era Earth, sometimes spiritually if not physically.
This a ripping good time all the way through.
Tracks I Liked
Cosmonaut - a hard-driving beat with rhymes to match
Maximillion - a “great songs nobody knows” banger
Get Your Ass To Mars! - a meditative spoken-word closer
