Release Date: 24 March 2023
Song Count: 10
Duration: 32 minutes, 59 seconds
Rating: 4.7/10
Description:
Song Count: 10
Duration: 32 minutes, 59 seconds
Rating: 4.7/10
Description:
Away from the rock rolling and back into the world of rap after a while, we have Codefendants, a punk hip-hop group consisting of artists Fat Mike, Sam King and Ceschi Ramos, with their debut album in the scene, This is Crime Wave. Nothing short of a bombastic introduction to this highly passionate band practically bursting with musical ideas to get into, this album isn't afraid to bend and break the rules on the conventions of hip-hop music as well as the other genres it takes dashes of inspirations from here and there, in true punk spirit. Together with its messaging that ranges from being delivered in a sarcastic sort of tone to - often - being extremely blatant in what it is about, this is certainly one big package to dive deep into.
In spite of having rap at their aural core, the tracks here make surprising amount of use of distorted electric guitars and motifs more fitting to rock or reggae music, really letting the punk influences set in. The vocal delivery from the frontmen is all over the place, refusing to stick to one particular style, though rapping via cramming words together at a rapid pace does seem to be a common method along with melodic singing and other ways of getting things out there. Speaking of - the lyricism here is also highly varied in its nature, pointing attention to the systematic and social injustices of the world and the harshness of life on one hand and having at times quite immature ways of formulating some of these messages on another à la phrases like "Heroes are human, and humans can be trash - that includes you listening" in "Brutiful", though holding kernels of truth in terms of contents. As a whole, it is difficult to truly describe Codefendants' style of music in a categoric manner due to the amount of norms thrown out of the window in favour of artistic expression with a half-punk half-hip-hop blend.
This is a kind of album that requires several listens to set in with all that it has got in store, and even then, its way of being remains highly divisive in terms of if a listener will find enjoyment out of it or not. Yours truly, though respecting of the bold stance and fascinating musical identity shaped by This is Crime Wave, does not really fall into the audience of people it was really designed for - in fact, I actually hated a lot of the contents and their sound until I gave them a second chance and find them to be significantly less egregious. The rapping has its moments of brilliance but can also fall extremely clunky-sounding at times if the rapid pace and direct way of lyricism isn't one's cup of tea, and the instrumentation is in a constant battle to balance out the hip-hop and punk elements and ends up sounding directionless at its very worst, though isn't that way most of the time. In spite of my tastes not meshing well with this, I would nevertheless encourage anyone who is curious to give This is Crime Wave a try, as it has plenty to say, to digest and especially to admire if one ends up enamored with its highly unique style.