CD Odyssey Disc 1682: Mr. Lif

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey where, to the surprise of exactly no one, another music review awaits you.

Disc 1682 is…Mo’ Mega

Artist: Mr. Lif

Year of Release: 2006

What’s up with the Cover?  Giant Head Cover alert! Mr. Lif looks very thoughtful and composed here, like a professor of English Literature maybe. Would I listen to the words of this man? Reader, I would.

How I Came To Know It: My friend Ross put me on to Mr. Lif, and even bought me one of his albums (2002’s “I Phantom” reviewed back at Disc 1232). Needless to say I liked what I heard and have expanded my collection since.

How It Stacks Up: It wasn’t a massive expansion, and I now have two Mr. Lif albums. Of the two, “Mo’ Mega” is the superior record, so #1!

Rating: 5 stars

At the risk of sounding out of touch with the kids – possibly even being labelled grumpy – I must confess that the majority of modern rap does not agree with me. There is just too much of that ever-present style that is akin to a descending mumble, ending predictably at the bar over and over again. Like someone’s talking in their sleep while dreaming of how they can’t find their home room.

Coming out in 2006, “Mo’ Mega” isn’t exactly the era of concern for me, but it is nudging up against it. Fortunately, there was nothing to worry about this time. Mr. Lif is a revelation, with a flow that floats across the top of a beat like Muhammad Ali’s butterfly, stinging you with thoughtful rhymes and insightful commentary.

There is a nasally tone to Mr. Lif’s vocals that aren’t usually in my rap wheelhouse, but the way he floats that high flow across the beat is inspired. He has a Rakim-like quality of knowing when to drop a rhyme on the end of a line and went to let it artfully flow over a little, like a taste of champagne after you’ve fired the cork.

The rhymes, sometimes internal, sometimes couplets, sometimes three or four in a row skipping one on top of another are too artful to quote (it would be a crime minus the beats) leaving your brain in a state of eager wakefulness. You know something great has happened and feel a little bad that you’re not quick-witted enough to sing along. I didn’t find myself keeping up with Mr. Lif, I felt pulled along.

There is nothing playful about these tracks, and even seemingly lighthearted metaphors like “The Fries” quickly goes from observations on fast food into dark explorations of disposable culture writ-large.

And while I would’ve been perfectly happy with just Mr. Lif’s rhyming talents on this record, you get so much more on the arrogant (but aptly named) “Mo’ Mega”. The samples and beats on this record are both a throwback to a golden age and also the cutting edge of production. On “Murs Iz My Manager” we’ve got the funkiest bassline since EPMD was housin’, combined with some well-placed trumpet licks. This shit drops hard and oh, yeah – Mr. Lif is every bit up to it with a flow so furious Big Daddy Kane’d be proud.

One of the record’s secret weapons is the production of El-P (of Run the Jewels fame). El-P would go on to become one half of one of rap’s greatest duos, but in 2006 he was busy taking records like this to a whole other level. Even the album’s lyrically weak tunes (booty-call “Long Distance” comes to mind) is still held together with great production and sample decisions.  

The sheer range on the record also impresses. Lyrically we have everything from sex tunes to social justice, while the beats range through Latin rhythms, Jazz licks, RnB, and everything in between. Mr. Lif wants you to listen to ALL the styles, and then shows you how they can be combined and made better through inspired metamorphosis.

My biggest complaint about this record is that it is only 40 minutes long, and after every listen I felt a momentary frustration knowing it was over, but even then there is a solution. Just set this one on repeat and kick back, baby. You’re welcome.

Best tracks: All tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1232: Mr. Lif

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey. Now let’s get this ship under sail!

Disc 1232 is… I Phantom

Artist: Mr. Lif

Year of Release: 2002

What’s up with the Cover? At first glance this just a logo of a person in front of a nuclear holocaust, but when you look closer, the picture is surrounded by a bunch of smaller graphics including the Capitol building, booze and drugs, luggage, weapons, sex, fast food, consumerism, and various forms of media. Like the record, it is a lot to unpack.

How I Came To Know It: My friend Ross introduced me to Mr. Lif. I liked it and before I knew it he’d bought me this album as a thank you for taking care of his cat. Thanks, Ross!

How It Stacks Up:  I have two of Mr. Lif’s four albums. Of those two, “I Phantom” is the lesser.

Ratings:  3 stars

“I Phantom” answers the question “what if you crossed ‘Office Space’ with ‘On the Beach’ and then made it into a rap album? Put another way, if you are looking for a rapper that talks about drugs, violence and how cool his new Nikes are, then this is not the album for you.

“I Phantom” is a concept album that tells the story about a man who tries to pursue the American dream but finds he is just falling further and further behind, making low wages at a job he hates and growing apart from his wife and son. He quits and finds happiness as a rapper. Then there are a whole bunch of plot twists which are kind of hard to follow, and then the whole thing ends in a nuclear holocaust. So yeah, there is a lot to unpack.

The plot twists are explained in a narrative in the liner notes, but I am of the opinion that art should speak for itself and not require explanation. The songs lose me somewhere between “career rapper” and “mushroom cloud” and figuring it out through the liner notes is like some guy at an Open Mic explaining his song before he plays it; annoying.

Rap albums have a tradition of skits, and “I Phantom” has a few. I’ve never liked this particular tradition, and the opening track “Bad Card” where our narrator seeks to borrow a gun from a friend just goes on interminably and had me frustrated and hoping that at some point I’d hear music. A later skit, “Daddy Dearest” features some solid writing and voice acting about an awkward conversation between a father and his estranged son. It was really well done but again, I would prefer music. Save that stuff for the podcasts I don’t listen to!

Fortunately, when the songs are featured they are solid. The beats and samples have a head-bob inducing groove and are clever and original. There is a seventies funk quality to “I Phantom” which is artfully mixed with jazzy beats and well-placed scratching. “New Man Theme” and “Status” are particularly funky and the album is a winner for having these two tracks alone.

While inventive, the beats and samples on “I Phantom” don’t get so complicated to stand in the way of Mr. Lif’s frenetic flow. Lif leans into the front of the beat, and when he is hitting he compares favourably to K-OS or Eminem. There are times where he is pushing a bit too many rhymes into a beat without the expected payoff but those times are rare.

For the most part, Mr. Lif’s flow combines urgency, narration and dense, clever rhymes that create energy and drama. On first listen, these songs come at you hard and from many angles. It threatens to overwhelm you but on repeat listens you learn to find that sweet spot between the funky grooves and the intensity of Mr. Lif’s flow. Maybe the storyline will also be clearer to me as I continue to get to know the record, but if not the songs are good enough to stand on their own.

Best tracks: Return of the B-Boy, Live from the Plantation, New Man Theme, Status, The Now, Earthcrusher