No Frills Reviews

Track of the Day provides bitesize recommendations of new discoveries and old favourites.

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A dystopian doom-monger. A surrealist philosopher. A grotesque expressionist. New Jersey rapper, Fatboi Sharif, inspires many a dramatic description, while his music almost defies you to describe it. With each new project, he pushes the form of experimental hip-hop into increasingly uncharted waters. He’s already released one of our favourites of the year, in the chaotic and confounding, Let Me Out alongside producer, Driveby. For his latest offering, Sharif joins forces with fellow NJ rapper/producer, GDP, who makes his first release under this moniker in nearly a decade with the 7-track mini-album, ENDOCRINE. While GDP is no stranger to experimentation himself, Sharif tends to bring out the best (or perhaps that should be worst) in his production partners, as they conjure up nightmarish hellscapes for him to roam.

There’s plenty of that across ENDOCRINE, but the standout comes in the relatively conventional form of Luchador Mask. The beat is a foreboding ceremonial march, intercut with stinging electric guitars; it’s the sort of cinematic backdrop which wouldn’t feel out of place on a Wu-Tang project. Meanwhile Sharif & GDP sketch out visions filled with pop culture references and absurdist violence. With the mafia-referencing line, “this thing of ours”, Sharif invites you to share in their shadowy underworld. But this is no mafioso rap brag; as GDP later puts it, this is a world where “evil and truth collide”. This is high-art meeting grim reality; perhaps best captured by GDP’s imagery of “a Smith & Wesson in the Guggenheim”. Luchador Mask offers a (kind of) easy entry-point into a world that’s anything but easy.

Listen to Luchador Mask and ENDOCRINE in all the usual places below:

• Bandcamp
• Apple Music
• Spotify

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Luchador Mask features on our Hip-Hop Highlights playlist on Spotify, featuring a regular selection of the best new rap releases.

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