Album Review: Kerser - Tradition

The name suggests little has changed. Why would it?

Kerser's rise has come on the back of his own charisma, a talent for evoking his difficult background, an upsetting amount of hate speech, a highly effective online ground game and a catalogue of Nebs beats. The formula ain't broke, so why break with traditions?

"I don't make hip hop I make boss rap," Kers explains on Waitin' For This. It's accurate: listening to Kerser is less about engaging with a musical genre than meeting with a fully fleshed out individual. We don't hear an MC, we are granted an audience with a boss. We The Type is the album's highlight: a bouncy beat with exaggerated brags and Kers and Jay UF's personalities front and centre. See Me In Real Life is a nice reminder of Kerser's sharp tongue: "You're about as relevant as fucken Channel V".

This is Kerser's sixth album in five years. He sets an exhausting pace. It's a testament to his creative stamina and the enthusiasm of his fan base that he's able to keep releasing commercially viable music. It does beg the question, though: how much is too much? Would his results benefit from a longer gestation period? Would the music be as popular if all the misogyny, homophobia and violence was cut out? This is at times highly offensive and similar to Kerser's previous work; consistent with tradition. This is fun, engaging, well-made boss rap; also consistent with tradition. What you do about it is up to you.