Seez Mics

On Cruel Fuel's second cut, Seez Mics chants, as a sort of Yeoman's mantra: "THE BEAUTY OF BEING A CHILD IS FEELING THE SAME WAY PRETTY MUCH ALL THE TIME." Does anyone else feel weird after reading that? Do you think you'd feel weirder if you'd heard it shouted in the general direction of your brain? Cruel Fuel is a weird album: It's a bit Workman, a sprinkle savage, a touch tough, an afternoon aloof, and, doubtlessly unintentionally, the antithesis of Robin Thicke's legacy (whatever that is and/or means to you). The way it's weird, though, is where and what counts on Cruel Fuel; it's like one of the weird Rap tapes I'd buy off a random merch table.

In what is possibly the sleeper hit of fall , and the climax of a surreal trilogy, "Human Farm" showcases Seez Mics in all of his Reality Bites glory. shit is weird, b. Seez Mics channels Beck, Me Phi Me, Animal Collective, Why?, and The Shins in one fell swoop. "I wanna see that smile of yours...two legs back...let's get down on all fours...We are animals...WHO LEARN TO KEEP SCORE..." Seez Mics, his is a rather superb song about who humans actually are; what we do to each other, both in action and thought. If I'm being honest, and I rarely am, "Human Farm" could get along with the soundtrack to recent films as disparate as Neighbors and Philomena.

But let me not forget: "Human Farm" is one grand part of a three-bricked pyramid. Filling it out are the sublime, slathered-in-slime, sickly-sweet "That's Not How It Works" and the bizarre, brief, bitingly beautiful "Things Change." During "That's Not How It Works" Seez Mics spills his guts with six words: "I miss my good friend Eyedea..."; these nuggets of truth abound and are scattered heartily on Cruel Fuel's field. Its beat and morose songstress sample slapping the stretched sonics. "That's Not How It Works" is arguably the album's apex in terms of immolation of both self and foe; this is not to mention its concussive audio punch. Following it with the funky casual sex jam "Animal Farm" is Seez Mics rebirthing his own glorious rebirth.

Cruel Fuel has one cameo: Kristoff Krane. Truth be typed I was a virgin (also in body) to the majestic stylings of Kristoff Krane and he basically Kristoff'd my Krane. What a stunner of a verse: "TIP TOE TO THE WINDOW - BOOM PISTOL - 'TIL IT RIPS THROUGH the other side when something dies...something is born..." HARDCORE EJAC, yo; don't misunderstand me now: Seez Mics comes correct. But his selection of Kristoff Krane as his lone guest is a delightful twist. What has Seez Mics done here, to me, the listener? I will tell you: He has shown me that he is capable (more than) of carrying a solo album (that is weird) and that he has the testicular fortitude of a shirtless guy in the movie 300 to cede the floor to a rapper as rambunctious and radical as Kristoff Krane.