Nocando once told me that Project Blowed was like rap graduate school. Makes sense. Rapid-fire freestyles at weekly battles are the equivalent of a thesis defense, complete with less argyle and more soy. After all, the Blowed’s origins date back to the Good Life, the only spot in South Central where you could cop couscous. So yes, superficially, Flash Bang Grenada’s raps are as esoteric as their grains. But like their ancestors: Fellowship, CVE, Rifleman, et al., Busdriver and Nocando rap fast, hard, and love dissing other rappers. You just have to have a dictionary and sharp hearing.
“Beat My Bitch” illustrates the differences among Flash Bang, the Joe McSwag’s du jour, and underground rappers who slays so many fictional MC’s that they need a slaughterhouse to house the bodies [insert your favorite Joe Budden fetus joke here]. Skinny jeaned and v-necked, Nocan describes himself as “cooler than a corpse snowboarding on Christmas Day,” shouts out his supportive family and promises to buy his gay cousin a gorgeous Tranny when he blows up. Point is, whatever your perception is of these guys, it’s probably off-base. James McCall is more apt to be bumping Max B, Juvenile, and Danny Brown than whatever Aloe Fresh hydrating rap you thought the underground was supposed to be. Besides, Flash Bang Grenada are good enough to be popular.
Busdriver, he of the helium helicopter flow, excoriates the opposition as being “not bi-polar but Amy Poehler,” while name-dropping the Jonas Brothers, muffin tops, and burger fat. Like their two previous collaborations, Flash Bang work because they take the two most gifted rappers the Blowed has produced in the last decade, returns them to their shit-talking battle-rap roots, and yields the sort of comic one-upmanship of all good collaborations. Plus, they wrangle one of Nosaj Thing’s phosphorescent U.F.O. beats and try to match its flight arc. Their bitch is the beat, they hover around the LA beat scene, the voice on the outro mocks: “misogyny’s cool.” The ironing is delicious and the bitch is beat so hard that you’ll want to rewind it back. Or you can just go their first show on Friday. Bring sorghum.
Download:
MP3: Flash Bang Grenada (Busdriver + Nocando)-“Beat My Bitch”
