Will Hagle just came back from a werewolf Bar Mitzvah.
Chris $pencer’s “Trill Loopgod” video is scary. It’s not scary because it’s shot in the style of a black-and-white horror film, with strobe lights, low-budget special effects, and creepily attractive nuns lurking in the background of every shot. It’s scary because, at the time of writing, it has under 200 views on YouTube. It’s scary because Vic Spencer and Chris Crack together as Chris $pencer comprise a mega-rapper wittier and more technically-skilled than any other current MC in their city, yet receive only a fraction of the attention.
“Trill Loopgod” is the fifth track on Blessed, the duo’s sophomore release under the Chris $pencer moniker. Douglas Martin’s review of that album already said everything you need to know about it, and even summed up the reasons why Vic and Chris revel in their underground, underdog status. But this video gives new life to a track that, like much of their music and perhaps their combined career itself, has more lurking beneath than what’s readily apparent on the surface.
The song starts with light drums, essentially just a hi-hat and a snare played with a brush. There’s no 808, no deep kick drum, none of the standard low-end production you hear in modern rap songs. Most rappers need the rhythm to guide them; Chris $pencer does the opposite. Mid-way through the track, it sounds like a drum fill is going to lead into something bigger, but the song structure goes in the opposite direction instead. The beat cuts out, leaving just a repetitive soul sample. Vic and Chris rap over the loop, like gods, their vocals acting as both the focus of the song and the de facto rhythm section.
That’s a minor detail of the song, but it shows how the unstoppable force that is Chris $pencer is able to dismantle standard song structure in favor of providing a steady stream of persistent bars. Also, the reactions of the stoned nuns miming Vic and Chris’s adlibs are works of editing genius. It’s scary that there’s no good way to end this post, so just watch the video.
