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DBA335
Limited to 300 copies (7 copies available)
Direct digital edition available here.
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Chicago hip-hop outfit Angry Blackmen made up of Quentin Branch & Brian Warren (ABM) have been stretching their arms and tapping into different sounds since they smashed onto the scene with their debut single “OK!” in 2017. A prime introduction starring two emcees showing they deserve to wield the microphone and do so with good cause. Then barely a month later ABM released sophomore single ‘Riot!’ a complete shift in sound that still housed the foundation set in ‘OK!’ A few years later the duo would drop their debut project ‘Talkshit!’ which saw them amass the following they have today. Deathbomb Arc ( releases by jpegmafia, Clipping) noticed the duo’s talent and nabbed them for their roster. From there ABM focused on honing their craft and expanding their range, dropping two EPs under the Deathbomb Arc umbrella. Now in 2024 ABM is back with a full-length record entitled ‘The Legend of ABM’, a 30-minute coming of age narrative about black men navigating this wilderness known as North America.
‘The Legend of ABM’ immediately smacks the listener in the eardrum leaving no second wasted and jumping straight to the point. The 11-track adventure truly presents an expression of hip-hop that we haven’t seen before, infusing multiple sounds with the 50-year old genre. To go even deeper, Quentin Branch & Brian Warren are teaching a masterclass in top-notch poetic lyricism, creating both accessible and mind-bending music. “Stanley Kubrick” has both heroes shattering the beat with their braggadocio for what is just the appetizer to prepare the listener for what’s to come in the next ten tracks. ‘Sabotage’ tells the story of two Black men hustling through the trenches of capitalism and the effect that this journey has on them. While the album exudes catchy wordplay and spine-splitting production, if you lift up the hood, ABM is spinning a tale of depression, existentialism and self-reflection that isn’t always pretty. “Dead Men Tell No Lies” is another mutation in sound for the duo, where the industrial sounds clash, violently yet perfectly together with a blistering hook harkening to the end of time. The track features New Jersey’s Fatboi Sharif whose haunting verse adds to the hopeless scenery ABM’s set throughout the album. Warren & Branch’s raw poetry educates the listener of the pre-apocalyptic world we’re already living in throughout this project. Personal anecdotes of tragedy and survival over soundscapes created from the future provide a passionate yet introspective look at the world-at-large. ‘The Legend of ABM’ is not an excursion for the weak, the production is meant to snap your spine in half, the lyrics from Quentin & Brian are pathos infused and relatable to anyone simply trying to survive. [Bio text: Michael Stover]
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