Don’t ask me what Universal is thinking. We’re better off being happy that for once, a corporation isn’t focused on negatively warping creation. Mr. MFN eXquire never struck me as a mainstream rap star. Even if he wouldn’t interpret that as a compliment, it’s meant to be. Husky BK rappers with a love of Def Jux, and flows ferocious as sewer monsters aren’t about to make their “Rack City” anytime soon. But somehow, the blog-fed bubble of weird rappers led to him getting a deal on the same label as Taylor Swift.
“Telephuck” is allegedly his first single from his debut major label project, The Power and the Passion EP. It is produced by El-P and features Gucci Mane. I have no clue whether someone at the label thought that this would lend it commercial viability. It almost definitely won’t. That idea didn’t work for Wale or Yelawolf. And in late 2012, I don’t even think the idea could work for solo Gucci. These are the sort of concerns that dog you when you sign with a major label. With the cash comes expectations.
But give credit to eXquire: he told everyone that he didn’t give a fuck from jump and he is nothing if not consistent. The pairing of him and Gucci sounds like a post-trap gonzo version of a 2012 Cannibal Ox song if they were into “Money, Hoes and Patron,” instead of comic books, space ships, and money, hoes and patron. So what you wanted but only half-expected. El-P’s beat is predictably (brain) wavy: the halfway point between Vangelis and Marley Marl, weed-spiked paranoia and the sound of science screaming. Gucci may even steal the show.
You will never hear this on your radio — unless you get abducted. Maybe that’s a good thing.
