El-P “I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead” (Best of the Decade)
To me, this is indie hip hop’s OK Computer. It’s that good. The layers upon layers of dread and disillusionment, the vibrant, neck-breaking production, the potency of the lyrics—this is underground hip hop that’s as forward-thinking and original as it is raw and grimy. It’s easily El-P’s best album, probably the best Def Jux album, and arguably the best indie rap album of the decade.
And it all starts with the first track. “Tasmanian Pain Coaster” is an absolute monster, a sprawling, seven-minute opus featuring one of the most dynamic beats El-P’s ever produced. The opening David Lynch sample, the apocalyptic synths, the piano that comes in at 3:10, the out-of-nowhere Mars Volta cameo—it all comes together in a swirling tempest of anger, paranoia and insanity; much like the album as a whole.
The opener might be the single best song on “ISWYD,” but the rest of the album doesn’t lose much steam. From the beautifully-detailed imagery of “Dear Sirs” to the sci-fi storytelling of “Habeas Corpses” to the Trent Reznor-assisted near-death experience “Flyentology” to the intensely personal “Poisenville Kids No Wins,” the album offers an unusually diverse set of songs that somehow manage to flow together perfectly. Even the album’s signature “ballad,” the somewhat uncomfortable love song “The Overly Dramatic Truth,” succeeds on the strength of its honesty and eminently listenable production.
And while El-P is most highly-regarded as a producer, he more than holds his own as an emcee on this album too. His flow is a nontraditional spew of images and ideas, a rapid-fire assault that sticks into all the crevices of his Bomb Squad-influenced beats. Less abstract than label-mate Aesop Rock, El-P excels at marrying a shit-talking battle rap swagger to some deeper topics. It’s an approach that can be utterly hypnotic.
I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead kind of came along at a bad time, a time when music writers and even listeners—at least the cool kids—were swinging away from “artsy,” “elitist” indie hip hop and focusing on the populist appeal of Lil Wayne, Kanye and 50. I don’t think ISWYD had, or will have, the impact on hip hop as a whole that it probably should. And that’s a shame, because while I definitely don’t want all rap records to sound like this, I do want more of them to be this dynamic, this creative and this ambitious.
While I like this album a whole lot, it’s nowhere near as good as Fantastic Damage in my opinion.
Then again if we’re talking about albums from this decade that involve El-P, it’d be just plain wrong not to talk about Cannibal Ox’s “The Cold Vein” as being the best of those.
To be honest, I never really knew about El-P before ISWYD. I had a friend who was working with World’s Fair around the time the album was set to come out, and since they shared an office with Def Jux at the time he had all the info on it–guy sold it to me before I had heard a single second from the album.
When I first heard it, I really wanted to like it as much as I thought I would, but I didn’t… but it had something that kept me from giving up on it. It is entirely different than anything I’ve heard before in my life, and by the end of the year it was absolutely one of my favorites of the previous 12 months… now, it’s absolutely one of my favorite of the past 10 years.
El-P brings up conflicting feelings for me, because even though he is an amazing producer (I do wish he would stay off of Aesop’s stuff and not influence Aesop’s production style), he is repeatedly homophobic and ableist in his lyrics. I wonder how you reconcile with those traits?
Don’t get me wrong, I fucking love this album a great deal. I don’t know if I can really throw it in the best album of the decade though. There are quite a few titles I could definitely throw before ISWYD. I agree with my man Adam, Fan Dam (in my opinion) is better than ISWYD.
I actually listened to this album last night in my car on a decently long drive. I have to admit… it is easily one of the most influential albums of the decade. I do feel that the themes on this album are a little more influential than Fan Dam. Don’t take that as me saying I don’t like Fan Dam (because I still do like it more), I just think ISWYD is going to be more influential in retrospect.
Didn’t make it into Pitchfork’s top 200 of the decade. FAIL.