Album Review: Spaceghostpurrp - Mysterious Phonk: The Chronicles Of SpaceGhostPurrp

SpaceGhostPurrp is boring; he's a technically so-so rapper with very little charisma who is attracted to down tempo, subdued instrumentals. It's a heady mix. At his best his monotony acts like a tribal chant, repetition becoming an asset as we are all enslaved by the rhythm. Get Yah Head Bust is the clearest example of that. At other times he engages with a beat that has a little something extra, a little mini-melody that serves as a counterpoint to his mumbling. The best example of that is Grind On Me. Sadly these pleasant peaks are few and far between and, in any case, difficult to spot. Mysterious Phonk is a blur of quietly inoffensive, gently competent background buzz.

No Evidence is the nadir. We open quietly, methodically, with a gentle boom, boom, boom. Then, a hook: whispered, whispered again, whispered again and again and again. And again. Not even a minute into the track we're tired. But there's no respite. Purrp is only just hitting his pedestrian straps. Bringing The Phonk is easily as dreary. And Suck A Dick 2012 is offensive chiefly for its inability to mimic the shock response its 2011 predecessor earned last year.

But perhaps Purrp's a genius, and beneath a boring disguise beats the heart of a true poet, or a revolutionary in waiting? Nah. The Black God purports to be a mission statement, an entrée to Purrp's mythology about himself: “I've got to have the world in my hands/I'm a god/I'm no longer a black man.” It's an interesting assertion initially, but it descends into drivel about keeping positive and being true to yourself. Move along, folks. Nothing to see here.