Five Favourites from El-P

Last year I did a round-up of some of my favourite insults from jewel runner and indie rap pioneer, El-P. Not content with ending it there, I have now tackled the larger and perhaps more rewarding task of selecting my favourite guest verses that he’s blessed us with over the last two decades or so. Before I started actually writing this, I had a pretty good idea in my head of how this Top 5 would end up looking, but it’s not until you start researching this sort of thing that you realise just how many tracks El-P has guested on across his career. So here we go with MY five favourite guest verses from the man himself (capitals on the ‘MY’, don’t @ me!).

An Ode to Labor Days

I started listening to hip hop in about 1992 when my mate got a copy of Straight Outta Compton on tape. I was 11 or 12 and I think it was probably the swearing that got me interested. I was young so at that point anytime anyone swore, it was a cause for amusement. But it wasn’t long before I got hooked on the raw nature of the music, especially during that era. It’s been a long journey of discovery ever since and there have been certain albums along the way that have been milestones for me in terms of opening my mind up to what was possible in rap. Illmatic was one, the Blackalicious A2G EP was another, but I think one that stands above all the rest is Labor Days.

El-P’s Best Insults

Photo by Mike Lavin

El-P is many things to many people – producer extraordinaire, independent rap pioneer, deli owner, friend of cats, social commentator, high as fuck Twitter user… the list goes on. He’s also got some really strong insults. A good insult is as much a part of rap as bad spelling and squatting in photos, and there have been many purveyors of quality disses over the years.

IT: Sleeping Giant

Another dope cut from IT – AKA Alaska & Cryptic One – following on from last month’s anti-Trump anthem. This time it’s a return to more typical rap thematics, as the pair trade battle style bars over a Cryptic beat, with DJ paWL on scratch duty. The track is available to stream below and you can get a download over on Bandcamp.

Cryptic One & Alaska: Orange is the New Wack

You’ve gotta look for the silver lining in times like this and one thing we can be thankful for is the amount of rage being poured into music right now. Admittedly protest songs have a chequered past in terms of substance and style, but when they’re done right they work very well.
Take this latest track from IT – aka Cryptic One & Alaska – who have released a response to Trump’s already tumultuous time in office. Needless to say they both kill their verses. You can stream the track below and you can download it over on Cryptic’s Bandcamp.

Words Hurt: Fuck That Pretty Boy Shit

You may remember me covering a couple of Words Hurt releases recently, well now they are back with a whole album: Fuck That Pretty Boy Shit. As the title indicates, the album is filled with enough bilious outpourings and misanthropic sentiments to make Charles Manson bop his head.

Words Hurt: Alkast Remixes

This isn’t a new release as such, but it is the first time I have had the pleasure of being introduced to it. Words Hurt is the brainchild of former Hangar 18 rapper Alaska and Austin based produced Lang Vo. They came together in August last year to bring us the excellent Alkast Remixes project, which is the amuse bouche for their debut album, Fuck That Pretty Boy Shit, which is due out in the next few months. As you can tell from the title this isn’t easy listening style and the Alkast project is no different.

El-P “The Full Retard”

If you didn’t watch it already, you all need to see the new video from El-P.

El-P “Cancer For Cure” Trailer

Those of you fiendin’ for another hit of that El Producto dope need look no further, for here is the trailer for his new album “Cancer For Cure”. I’m not going to say much about it, the video can do that itself. Big things coming though. I can’t fucking wait.

El-P “The Full Retard”

I call myself a hip hop fan, but somehow I missed a leak from one of the albums I’m most hyped about this year.