Psych rap remains an interesting and innovative genre that has roots in soul, acid jazz, funk, and blues as much as in rap and hip-hop. The rhymes are often clever and quick, the beats funky and transcendent, and the vibes are always choice. Looking to get into psych rap but not sure here to begin? Here are four albums to get things started.
‘Acid Rap’ — Chance The Rapper
Chance the Rapper released his second mixtape, Acid Rap, in 2013 after being interested in using LSD in the creation process. He told MTV News that there was “a lot of acid involved in Acid Rap,” but then clarified that it was “more so 30 percent acid.” Still, the mixtape draws from various and widespread genres like jazz, blues, soul, and psych-rock.
The rhymes are introspective and unconventional, often nonsensical. But through Acid Rap, Chance created a psych rap masterpiece of emotions and experiences beyond his years (he was 20 at the time). Chance said it was “less of a conceptual project” and more “music-based” than his previous mixtape 10 Day. With an acid jazz foundation, Chance built a psych rap castle from the ground up.
‘Stankonia’ — Outkast
With their previous album Aquemini in 1998, Outkast had brought new attention to southern rap. After several laidback albums, they upped the ante with Stankonia in 2000. This album featured a faster pace, more psychedelic influences, and aimed to represent the fast-approaching turn of the century. While writing Stankonia, the duo refrained from listening to hip-hop. According to Big Boi, “That music was starting to sound real comfortable. There wasn’t any adventure to it.”
Instead, they referenced Jimi Hendrix, Little Richard, Prince, George Clinton, Parliament, and Funkadelic, among other psych-rock legends. Taking these influences, they then translated the 70s sound into psych rap. The album tracks have been described as “freaky and menacing,” “frantic,” “jittery,” and “Hendrix-ian” in various critiques and reviews. Overall, Stankonia‘s psych rap reinvention worked to usher in a wave of experimentation.
‘3001: A Laced Odyssey’ — Flatbush Zombies
Flatbush Zombies released their debut studio album 3001: A Laced Odyssey in 2016, unleashing an inventive tour-de-force on the hip-hop world. This album earned heavy praise from critics, who honed in on the smart, introspective, and dexterousness of the lyrics. It was a journey, a true odyssey, that took listeners on a undeniable trip through a strange psych rap landscape.
While Flatbush Zombies formed in 2010, they didn’t release a full-length album until 2016. That waiting paid off, and 3001 thrust the trio to the cusp of success. Musically, the album was “haunting,” using strings, bongos, piano, and electronic sci-fi effects to create a world fit to get lost in.
‘Beauty And The Beat’ — Edan
In 2005, Edan released Beauty and the Beat, which earned universal acclaim as one of Rolling Stone‘s 500 Best Albums of All Time, among other accolades. It serves an an homage to 60s acid funk as much as an innovation in psych rap and an exhibition of Edan’s quick witted lyrical skills. Overall, Beauty and the Beat knows how to take all the air out of a room, then fill every bit of space again with sound that complements as much as it contradicts.
Edan often pulled from innovators in classic genres as inspiration, honoring the legacies of artists who came before. “Just because something happens today does not mean it is an improvement on yesterday,” he said in 2005. “That is why I study my manuscripts and my old music. I want to know how high these people have climbed, and I would like to learn from them.”
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