You Disgust Me

Audio Mixers: DJ Romes; Gangrene.
Recording information: ALC Laboratories, Santa Monica, CA; Disruptive Studios, Oxnard, CA.
Photographer: Jason Goldwatch.
A project that launched in 2010 featuring producer/rapper the Alchemist and rapper/producer Oh No, Gangrene have been a conceptual powerhouse before, offering an acid trip with 2012's Vodka & Ayahuasca, or re-creating the world of the video game Grand Theft Auto V with their Welcome to Los Santos LP from earlier in 2015. This second album of the year is as murky as its title implies, and there are plenty of hate-spitting interludes throughout the album, but this is arguably as loose as the duo have ever come off, since You Disgust Me casually strolls through the land of underground rap and lets the concepts fall where they may. In the case of the great "Noon Chuckas," it all falls toward the ugly sound of their aptly titled debut, Gutter Water, with eerie beats and angry words overflowing, but with the Action Bronson feature "Driving Gloves," it's funky spy music and modern video game drama. "Sheet Music," with Havoc and the late Sean Price, recalls everything great and gutter about Alchemist's days with Mobb Deep, then "The Hidden Hand" closes the show with wandering flutes and psychedelic lyrics, as if this were Vodka & Ayahuasca 2. Add a short runtime and You Disgust Me feels like an inflated EP of lost tracks and hidden heat, so marvel at their more crafted and conceptual albums, then come back here for a more free-form sampler of strange. ~ David Jeffries