Expressing Frustrations

Hearing the first few breaths of Hollywood glamour strings over a hip-hop beat triggers all the best natural responses of music right now. In the era of lo-fi hip-hop beats to study to, the idea of “relaxing” music has been retooled lately. When the type of beat on “Party’s Ova,” the opener to Rotten Hill Gang’s Teach Peace album starts, the prime soundtrack to a good thinking session starts with it. And thinking this song does, with the first heavily British lyric about the recession – rap being a genre for excess, but equally so, a genre for expressing frustrations with one’s world.

It’s interesting to hear an album start out right out of the gate with something to say about spending more than you actually have, and affecting others with your actions as a result. “Party’s Ova” indeed, as Teach Peace starts off with an interesting post-climax moment that puts Rotten Hill Gang at that point where you look at your bank account after a weekend partying to soiling dismay. The economic quandaries continue to flow on “If Everybody Had The Chance.” The song furthers this mood with the kind of muted-trumpet sad cantina song you’d hear in a pre-third act sad point for our protagonist in a movie, wallowing his sorrows in tequila.

It’s during this song (and especially the opener) that solidifies frontman Rotten Red West as the star of the gang. His flow and subject matter is a dead ringer for David Kaluuya’s final impassioned speech on Black Mirror’s “Fifteen Million Merits” episode. British rap is gaining a lot of popularity here stateside, so hearing Rotten Red’s flow is not only great to listen to, but makes you want to listen closer to hear the details of his arguments. Naming the group Rotten Hill Gang is surely intentionally derived from the influential early rap group, The Sugar Hill Gang, implying the same message of “Party’s Ova” that something is rotting in the state of world economics compared to the past.

Rotten Red’s rapping has enough energy to carry whatever style Rotten Hill Gang tries on (mostly funk and rock), making the parts without him lacking  a certain punch. The large sections on “If We’re Feeling’ It We’re Stealin’ It” and “Writers Block” rely more on the chorus of singers they incorporate throughout. Rotten Hill Gang’s rock sound gets exposed as more of a plain take on the genre. Not at all unpleasant to listen to, however, as “Let Me Breathe” packs a certain sonic punch that backs up the lyrics Red is spitting. The songs do begin to run together, especially as the tempo begins to slow. “Uncool in Nice” specifically has some slower moments in there, but the idea is more than established. Music is getting pissed again, and only time will tell what more is to come