Experimental hip-hop is ever-evolving. For many, this is known fondly as “scaring the hoes” music—a term coined by JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown, who collaborated on their 2023 album, you guessed it, “Scaring the Hoes.” Peggy and Danny Brown have entered the mainstream along with Death Grips, and while these artists are great, they shouldn’t be the only experimental acts you’re acquainted with.
What is experimental hip-hop?
Experimental or alternative hip-hop is an umbrella term for a subgenre of hip-hop music characterized by unconventional and abstract sound that combines elements of hip-hop with other genres like jazz, electronic, and rock along with the incorporation of samples, loops, and other unique production techniques.
Oftentimes, people associate the genre with MF DOOM or Death Grips and their 2012 album “The Money Store.” Other big names include Earl Sweatshirt and M.I.A.
Sounds of the apocalypse
Experimental hip-hop is apocalyptic by nature. The sounds place you in an inescapable dystopia. The subject matter pulls you into an existential dread.
Themes of political consciousness and messaging, anti-capitalism, grief, and societal dysfunction are often represented within the realm of experimental hip-hop. Once you press play, it quite literally sounds like the world is ending.
We all start somewhere
Experimental hip-hop isn’t for everyone. To a casual listener, some of the sounds might not be considered palatable. Take Armand Hammer’s “Trauma Mic” for example, which opens with aggressive, loud hitting cymbals. Or perhaps the eerie, anxiety-inducing backup vocals in Shabazz Palaces’ “An echo from the hosts that profess infinitum” that I can only describe as extraterrestrial.
But the thing is, that’s the whole point. The sounds and the noise are meant to startle you, and it enhances the storytelling.
Alas, I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the genre and broaden your musical horizons. Experimental and abstract rap is incredibly innovative, and while I’m not doing the best job selling experimental hip-hop by painting a picture of terror and despair, consider how impressive, important, and vulnerable it is for creatives to use music and production as a medium to illustrate poignant themes.
There is a lot of ground to cover when it comes to experimental hip-hop, and it’s hard to come up with a concrete list of quintessential projects to listen to. So, to narrow it down, here are my (current) top three picks for essential experimental hip-hop albums that encapsulate the sounds of the apocalypse:
“We Buy Diabetic Test Strips” – Armand Hammer
How dystopian is it that people buy diabetic test strips and flip them for a profit?
Rap duo billy woods and Elucid are two of New York City’s most visionary MCs. The pair joined forces in 2013 as Armand Hammer and have collaborated on six studio albums. Their discography is extremely impressive, but their 2023 album “We Buy Diabetic Test Strips” especially stands out when discussing an apocalyptic world—a very real one that we are living in.
The album’s depth goes beyond the titular issue—the gray market for diabetic test strips coinciding with the state of the American healthcare system. WBDTS is an exploration of how people attempt to thrive in a failing, collapsing system drowning with angst. Armand Hammer ruminates topics including gentrification, class struggles, and late-stage capitalism accompanied by abrasive and noir production.
From cryptic lyricism to abrupt and gritty beats, Armand Hammer pays a testament to the evolution of experimental hip-hop. WBDTS is anxiety-inducing, disorienting, and frantic.
“By the Time I Get to Phoenix” – Injury Reserve
Injury Reserve was a hip-hop group from Arizona—their second and final album “By The Time I Get to Phoenix” was released in 2021 and is dedicated to late member Stepa J. Groggs, who died during the recording of the album.
Distorted voices, chants, gasps, stutters, and sirens create a captivating apocalyptic atmosphere as the group touches on themes of hopelessness, death, and grief.
“By the Time I Get to Phoenix” is an unusual and startling listening experience. Music can be scary and ominous and Injury Reserve makes it a point to place the listener within a dystopia of despair.
“The Cold Vein” – Cannibal Ox
“The Cold Vein” is the debut studio album by Harlem, New York, duo Cannibal Ox. Released in 2001, just months before 9/11, the project is an abstract and futuristic soundscape for a post-apocalyptic New York.
The aforementioned “We Buy Diabetic Test Strips” draws parallels from “The Cold Vein”—noise and cryptic verses allude to inner-city life and urban decay. Rolling Stone describes the album as “a brilliant snapshot of pre-9/11 New York, a city fracturing underneath its moneyed surface.”
One listen of “The Cold Vein” will make it seem like Cannibal Ox has seen the end times, and the combination of grim lyrics, sounds of electro-industrialism, and belching synthesizers prove just that.Honorable mentions: “Madvillainy” by Madvillain, “Maps” by billy woods and Kenny Segal, “Black Up” by Shabazz Palaces, “Haram” by Armand Hammer and The Alchemist, “Little Dominiques Nosebleed” by The Koreatown Oddity, “Honor Killed the Samurai” by Ka, “Big Fish Theory” by Vince Staples—among many, many more.
