by: Sean Boy
Out last year on his own label, Definitive Jux, ElP is the backbone of this album. Laying down neo-futuristic beats with crazy glitches, beeps, video game effects and L.A. post-punk samples all layered in, El-P refuses to rest on his Company Flow laurels. While the production is all sci-fi and tech-ed out, the rhymes via Vast Aire and Shamar are pure NYC grit. "Iron Galaxy" begins the album on a bleak tip: "You was a still-borne baby / mother didn't want you, but still you was born," and "boy meets world / of course your pops is gone / what you figure / that chalky outline on the ground is a father figure?" This dark sentiment never really lets up. Hope emerges slightly on "A B-Boys Alpha" and it's hip-hop that once again saves the day, elevates these Bronx boys above minimum wage and drive-bys "the holiest of holies / hip-hop it was '88 / even at the age of 10 / phrases levitate." There's no hope in the mood of the music as it too is grim throughout. Not until the end of the album does El-P loosen up enough to bust out a slow funk jam. Cannibal Ox is dark, it's brutal, it's honest, and it sounds like nothing you've ever heard. If you're looking for dope underground hip-hop this album will do everything but chill the veins.
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