tag:shortfuzeraps.com,2005:/blogs/rap-station-interview?p=2Rap Station Interview2022-10-27T15:47:13-05:00Short Fuzefalsetag:shortfuzeraps.com,2005:Post/70900832022-10-27T15:47:13-05:002023-10-16T09:50:44-05:00Short Fuze - The Painkiller Boutique Review<header><a contents="Written by Chi Chi Thalken on October 14, 2022" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://scratchedvinyl.com/reviews/short-fuze-the-painkiller-boutique/" target="_blank"><strong><em>Written by Chi Chi Thalken on October 14, 2022</em></strong></a></header>
<p>Short Fuze is an emcee from Chicago who has been working with Uncommon Nasa since 2010. They already had a few projects under their belts before they officially became Guillotine Crowns in 2020 with the release of their album, <em>The First Stand</em>. They released their latest album, <em>Hills To Die On</em>, just this past April. Now Short Fuze comes back with a true solo album, <em>The Painkiller Boutique</em>.</p>
<p>It’s not often that when an artist has been around as long as Short Fuze has, with all these different projects under his belt, can come out with an album like <em>The Painkiller Boutique</em> and make you feel like you’re being introduced to them for the first time. That’s because while Short Fuze long ago established himself as a dope emcee, he’s never looked inward on a project and just put himself front and center in this way before. At least not on this scale. For the album, he’s working with some familiar producers, such as Messiah Musik, Dr. Khil, Uncommon Nasa and Bloodmoney Perez. Together, they help create this dark and solemn soundscape, with midtempo underground beats that give Short Fuze a lot of space to just step to the mic and tell his stories. From the opening track, “Drowning in My Own Skin,” where Fuze really opens up about how even just his physical appearance and his racial identity and being aware of how people perceived him as a kid affected him on a deeper level than he realized at the time, you know you’re in for a different kind of album. This is a raw listening experience, and a lot of trauma and inner demons are going to be explored, whether it be the shitty male role models in Fuze’s house growing up, or just dealing with depression while trying to create a better world for his kid. As a result, this is an album that you really need to sit with and let everything sink and give it space to breath. If you can do that, it’s more than worth taking the time. And even though this is a deeply personal album, Fuze brings in a few guests to turn the album into group therapy and let you know that you’re not alone in this world, with verses from Uncommon Nasa, Defcee and Collasoul Structure from Jyroscope. Each one digs deep to match the level of personal confession that Fuze is bringing to the table, making it a really special listening experience from start to finish.</p>
<p>The idea of music as therapy isn’t new, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t special when an artist like Short Fuze drops an album like <em>The Painkiller Boutique</em>. Short Fuze finally got himself in the right place to confront a lot of different things in his life through hip hop, and we are all richer for it.</p>
<section><table><tbody> <tr> <th>Title:</th> <td>Short Fuze - The Painkiller Boutique</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Label:</th> <td>Uncommon Records</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Year:</th> <td>2022</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Rating:</th> <td>9/10</td> </tr>
</tbody></table></section>Short Fuzetag:shortfuzeraps.com,2005:Post/69788742022-05-24T15:57:11-05:002022-05-24T15:57:11-05:00Our Daily Bread 518: Guillotine Crowns ‘Hills To Die On’<p><a contents="Our Daily Bread 518: Guillotine Crowns ‘Hills To Die&nbsp;On’" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://monolithcocktail.com/2022/05/12/our-daily-bread-518-guillotine-crowns-hills-to-die-on/" target="_blank">Our Daily Bread 518: Guillotine Crowns ‘Hills To Die On’</a></p>
<p>ALBUM REVIEW/MATT OLIVER</p>
<p>May 12, 2022 </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/222855/43644c3acffa5a5d9f0c5122bc3e39f26fe5d83e/original/hillstodieonbandcamp.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_thin" alt="" /></p>
<p>Guillotine Crowns ‘Hills to Die On’ <br>(Uncommon Records) </p>
<p>Do not read between the lines: these crowns haven’t been made to sit comfortably atop underground sovereigns. Hills To Die On is an uprising as well as an upholding of 80s-made disaster, predicting a New York-Chicago futurism that’s actually right under your fingernails, dirt and all. In orators Uncommon Nasa, whose clipped bravado, capable of coiling ad infinitum until he’s constricting your windpipe, and Short Fuze, no less strident but a case of always having to watch the quieter ones in times of distraction, Guillotine Crowns fuck up the b-boy stance and the front rows they’re liable to jump into. Dystopia may be the easy catch-all term to apply to this album of margin-ignoring hip-hop, and these are no gilded garlands on display; but when added to its deeply rooted survivalist spirit, just being without ever seeking hero status, Hills To Die On becomes music to spray skyscrapers by. </p>
<p>As with the Monolith Cocktail-approved, 2019 Uncommon Nasa project City As School with Kount Fif, indie/leftfield hip-hop titans Company Flow and Cannibal Ox, both of whom are referenced in rhyme, are where yardstick parallels are drawn and which give the album a weird throwback status caught in forward thinking-retro fantasy-modern living crossfire. Throw this back to times of Anticon/Def Jux etc (in which Nasa earned his stripes) and you’re hopeful for the scene all over again, thrilled by the likes of ‘Horseman Armour’ and ‘Scope of the Guillotine’ spewing out abstract angles hiding as straight lines and taking no shortcuts in unseating speakers. </p>
<p>The duo recognise the need to mobilise, but also the parameters of the friends/enemies axis. Whereas the resistance of ‘They Can’t Kill Us All’ is comparable to an all-for-one zombie outbreak, ‘The Product’ has Guillotine Crowns accepting the Sword of Damocles as both potential sealer of fate and a means of going for self amongst online/media minefields. Dense, dry and pretty unforgiving without being indecipherable, GC embark on “around-the-clock stakeouts to reset history” with enough ear catching references – Pelle Pelle sweatshirts, shouts to EPMD, Wu-Tang, DOOM and “Flava Flav with the 12Gauge” – to ease furrowed brows. The pertinence of their streams of consciousness will eventually emerge like a word balloon, forced into your eyeballs as a revision of the Clockwork Orange syllabus. </p>
<p>“My life is fast forward, while yours is a series of pauses” says the crushing headswim of ‘Rebel Crowns’, proposing the question of “do you want to be right, or do you want to be correct?” that through the wrong mic would just be look at me-level pretentious. And like any hip-hop act, underground or mainstream, the pair know the worth of a good hook that punters can take as gospel or make a tattoo of, acknowledging rap’s saviour-like status on the come up and pledging allegiance to the grind. The two leaders are joined on the mic by a bunch of street corner-dwelling savages slash town criers – Jyroscope, Duke01, Gajah, Tracy Jones, Skech185 a sometimes improbable cross-section of survivors and reinforcements to reroute the tide. </p>
<p>The sound of everyday anarchy is dominated by drum machines bullying backdrops like they’re about to cause the 80s music scene to splinter. Guitar chords are crowbarred if not sawn off, and holographic, peace-seeking synths become something more gothic and sinister, analogous to arcade machines becoming sentient. The programming of effects and percussion make tracks itch, irritating your inner ear. ‘Art Dealers’ sounds like ‘Brooklyn Zoo’ in a backpack. The scarily beautiful ‘Generosity’, with its damning hook sample, sounds jettisoned in space, while providing rhymes for the ages that measure the distance of returning to reality. </p>
<p>The dissonant ‘Bare Hands’ projects a robot uprising with the metropolis as its playground, whose hook of “I will destroy you with my bare hands…my power is limitless, you can’t come close to stopping me” both boosts and belies its Gotham-like setting, with ‘Hills’ providing a triumphant, comic book-coloured sci-fi fanfare and a chorus to leap headlong into for anyone needing a new manifesto. Rarely does the Hills… have time to check its pulse across 46 minutes; ‘Tape Deck’ tries to act dreamy, but can’t get no sleep. The industrial grind of ‘City Breathing’ is made for tank-as-low rider, and ‘Killer’, with Short Fuze calculating villainously, reaches the apex of the album’s claustrophobia living in a police state. </p>
<p>Hills To Die On is classic anti-socialism in the shock-of-the-new, ghettoblaster on full blast sense, though suffering the establishment, rather than just being anti-establishment, seems to be the Guillotine mindstate. All hail the Crown rulers setting standards from home to the Terrordome.</p>Short Fuzetag:shortfuzeraps.com,2005:Post/69625912022-05-03T11:22:59-05:002022-05-03T11:22:59-05:00From Cabbages Hip Hop May 1st Newsletter<p><a contents="Guillotine Crowns,&nbsp;Hills To Die On&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.cabbageshiphop.com/dalek-precipice-interview-2022/" target="_blank"><em><strong>Guillotine Crowns, Hills To Die On </strong></em></a></p>
<p>Despite respectively repping NYC and Chicago, seasoned hip-hop artists Uncommon Nasa and Short Fuze have roughly a decade's worth of long-distance recorded history together. The former made beats for the latter on a handful of projects, yet their 2020 team-up under the Guillotine Crowns' moniker seems only to have solidified their bond further. With both rappers sharing the mic, tracks like "City Breathing" and the rugged "Art Dealers" find them in top thematic form. Their street knowledge and genre tenture serves them well too on highlight "Horseman Armour" with Duke01 and Gajah. For listeners who've followed Nasa from his Def Jux / The Presence beginnings, the production progression demonstrated on "Killer" and the clamorous "Rebel Crowns" will feel rewarding.</p>Short Fuzetag:shortfuzeraps.com,2005:Post/69625902022-05-03T11:19:08-05:002022-05-03T11:19:08-05:00Guillotine Crowns - Hills to Die On<p><a contents="Guillotine Crowns - Hills to Die On&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://scratchedvinyl.com/reviews/guillotine-crowns-hills-to-die-on/" target="_blank"><em><strong>Guillotine Crowns - Hills to Die On </strong></em></a></p>
<p>Written by Chi Chi Thalken on April 29, 2022 </p>
<p>New York emcee/producer Uncommon Nasa and Chicago emcee Short Fuze have been friends and collaborators going back over ten years, but in 2020 they made their official debut as the duo Guillotine Crowns when they dropped their debut album, The First Stand. Two years later, and they are back to solidify their status with their sophomore album, Hills to Die On. </p>
<p>Much like the first album, Hills to Die On is completely produced by Uncommon Nasa, with the exception of one track that is coproduced by Digdug. As is to be expected, the album hits you with some intense beats with dense layering drawing on Nasa’s love of vintage prog samples, flipping them and transposing them into dark midtempo tracks that set the mood and the energy level for Short Fuze and Nasa on the mic. On a sonic level, Fuze and Nasa make for a good pairing, with their contrasting styles on the mic, pairing Nasa’s low, booming voice and deliberate pacing and Fuze’s mid-range voice and smoother flow to create a nice balance across the album. Once you get into the meat of the album, you start to see why a group called Guillotine Crowns might be appropriate to speak to the times we are living in. Throughout the course of the album, Nasa and Fuze are speaking directly to you as a listener about the dark times we’ve been living through, whether it be issues of race, class, art, war, or a fucking global pandemic. These last few years have been especially rough, but Fuze and Nasa are here to work their way through some difficult conversations, challenge themselves and their listeners, and, oh yeah, make some dope hip hop along the way. They aren’t just doing by themselves either, with Jyroscope, Duke01, Tracy Jones, and Sketch 185 all dropping dope verses, but once again it’s Gajah (RIP) who shows up on “Horseman Armor” with verbal gymnastics that will make you do a double take and makes you shake your head afterward. </p>
<p>Hills to Die On is a great sophomore album from a fairly new duo of veteran artist who know how to rock it and drop a dope album. They don’t take anything for granted, they speak to the moment, and they put a lot of themselves into the project. </p>
<p>Title:Guillotine Crowns - Hills to Die On </p>
<p>Label:Uncommon Records </p>
<p>Year:2022 </p>
<p>Rating:8/10</p>Short Fuzetag:shortfuzeraps.com,2005:Post/69625592022-05-03T11:04:59-05:002022-05-03T11:08:30-05:00New Music | Friday Roll Out: Guillotine Crowns, Tombstones In Their Eyes, Winged Wheel, Czarface<p><a contents="Originally posted on Ghettoblaster" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://ghettoblastermagazine.com/features/album-reviews/new-music-friday-roll-out-04-29-22/" target="_blank"><em><strong>Originally posted on Ghettoblaster</strong></em></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><em><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/222855/6dd5a128e43308b845ced5253e3224a8f13493f1/original/gbfridayrollout-04-29-22.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_thin" alt="" /></strong></em>There’s Hip-Hop, and then there’s HIP-HOP. Real always recognize real and for the most part, commercial radio has killed much of it, but the underground has always remained ripe for the picking. There are those that have continued to flourish creatively as the mainstream continues to ignore them. For years Uncommon Nasa has released numerous albums; solo, The Presence, White Horse, and his work has only gotten better with age. Guillotine Crowns is yet another project both he and Chicago emcee Short Fuze are a part of but both have collaborated with one another in the past. Nasa handled production duties on three releases so it seems it was only a matter of time before the two would become a duo. </p>
<p>Following 2020s The First Stand, Guillotine Crowns returns with The New Hills To Die On(Uncommon Records) and things are bigger, badder, and deffer for the 21st century. “Now They Know It” opens with a sample taken from the 1979 cult classic, The Warriors, and the song stays true to the film’s gritty nature as both emcees volley rhymes, clashing against one another with lyricism revolving around loyalty & paranoia. But it’s the guttery backdrop that will keep you intrigued. The song leads directly into the bouncy “Art Dealers,” filled with lyrical highs and lows with a piano line that repeats itself throughout but it’s barely noticeable. It’s consistent and fiery. “Scope Of The Guillotine (feat. Jyroscope)” is a bit different here. Nasa’s production, while still influenced by the urban grime we’ve become familiarized with, is a bit cleaner. Chicago emcee Jyroscope guests here and fits in seamlessly, matching lyrical flow with the Guillotine. </p>
<p>There’s an abundance of catch-and-release vibes to get down to throughout the album, much like “Horseman Armour” which features L.A.’s Gajah and the U.K.’s Duke01 of Lost Sons. All four emcees deliver hearty vocals but it’s the rapid-tongued Gajah that stands out. It may just be coincidental because the pause right before he drops his first words may be somewhat dramatic, but fitting. Moving over to “Tape Deck (feat. Tracy Jones),” this is the song that’s the odd man out. It’s cinematic to an extent and you can’t help but imagine its Stranger Things-like Hip-Hop vibe. Bear with me. Musically it’s odd, as is the show and yes, the series may be an era piece but it could work, we just have to suspend disbelief. But it’s the disjointed “KILLER (feat. SKECH185)” that entertains curiosity. The track moves at a malignantly slow pace, and it’s not pretty, but nor should it be. It comes with heady messages, filled with metaphors and SKECH185 delivers a gruff and monstrous delivery. The song is followed by the morose “Generosity” cautiously moving in serenity yet filled with doubt and melancholia. Fuze and Nasa eloquently deliver rhymes that question, bordering and flirting on the existential but firmly rooted in reality. </p>
<p>With Hills To Die On, it seems both Short Fuze and Uncommon Nasa find their collective stride as Guillotine Crowns. Even on the closing “Hills” the venom in their vocals delivers the fight in their bellies. We should expect more from Guillotine Crowns and welcome it because right here, they’re bringing the heat with this fiery collection of tracks!</p>Short Fuzetag:shortfuzeraps.com,2005:Post/65091952020-12-28T16:19:15-06:002020-12-28T16:19:15-06:00Scratched Vinyl Review - Guillotine Crowns - The First Stand<p>Written by Chi Chi Thalken on July 30, 2020 </p>
<p>Chicago artist Short Fuze and New York artist Uncommon Nasa have been collaborating off and on for about ten years, but now the’ve decided to officially become a duo, going by the name Guillotine Crowns. Before they release their first full-length album of original material, they present this compilation of their collabs over the years, The First Stand. </p>
<p>The first thing that hit me in listening to this compilation is that it’s about time that these two officially record as a duo, because this doesn’t feel like a comp – it feels like an album. And that’s because these two are so much on the same page musically, it just makes sense. They have similar deliberate flows on the mic, with a propensity for abstract imagery, and they both sound great on Uncommon Nasa’s left field proggy psychedelic beats. Over the course of this release, we also get some guest appearances from some familiar faces, such as Shortrock, Taiyamo Denku, Augury, Cirrus Minor, Last Sons, and Barrie McClain. My particular favorite is Barrie McClain’s soaring vocals on the majestic “Champions,” which will just get you pumped to do whatever it is you have to do. That’s the beauty of a compilation like this – there’s a good chance you either missed or maybe forgot about at least one of these songs over the years, and now you have a chance to go back and play catch up and uncover a gem or two. Any way you slice it, you’ve got a solid collection of underground hip hop from two artists that really feed off of each other’s energy very well. </p>
<p>It will be a little bit longer before we get their official first full-length album, so The First Stand makes for a nice setup before it comes. As it reveals, Uncommon Nasa and Short Fuze have been a duo this whole time. </p>
<p>Title:Guillotine Crowns - The First Stand </p>
<p>Label:Uncommon Records </p>
<p>Year:2020 </p>
<p>Rating:8/10</p>Short Fuzetag:shortfuzeraps.com,2005:Post/43680502016-09-12T11:32:54-05:002016-09-12T11:32:54-05:00Spectrum Pulse Video ReviewMark Grondon of Spectrum Pulse gave us a great review on his YouTube Channel for Spectrum Pulse<br><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="7tewVpsWx3w" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/7tewVpsWx3w/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7tewVpsWx3w?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="200" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe>Short Fuzetag:shortfuzeraps.com,2005:Post/43680492016-09-12T11:28:44-05:002016-09-12T11:28:44-05:00Dead End Hip Hop Video ReviewMyke C-Town gave us a wonderful review on his YouTube Channel for Dead End Hip Hop.<br><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="8Y2OrHygxA8" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/8Y2OrHygxA8/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8Y2OrHygxA8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="200" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe>Short Fuzetag:shortfuzeraps.com,2005:Post/43674382016-09-11T20:54:46-05:002021-10-18T10:54:06-05:00The Riviera Autonomy Music Album Review<p>Original Link: <a contents="The Riviera " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://therivieraworld.blogspot.com/2016/07/short-fuze-uncommon-nasa-autonomy-music.html" target="_blank">The Riviera</a> by Jack<br><br>Artist: Short Fuze & Uncommon Nasa <br>Album: Autonomy Music <br>Record Label: Uncommon Records <br>Release Date: 19th July 2016 <br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/222855/6516a4da446fb05d153e33710c8015930b79c093/original/riveria.jpg?1473790292/!!/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg?1473790292" class="size_m justify_left border_thin" alt="" /><br><br>There are few in the underground Hip-Hop game who have been as prolific in recent years as Uncommon Nasa. Having been in contact with him for about three years now, a new project is always an exciting prospect- there's always the sense that it'll be a journey, a sort of post-modern re-visitation of ideas and values that are well-cited that then get re-claimed and re-dissected to comply with Nasa's personal achievements and world-view. </p>
<p>Autonomy Music is Nasa's third collaborative project with fellow New York MC Short Fuze. Nasa sits back and takes control of the production reigns, leaving most of the literary character of this record to Short Fuze, whose dynamic rhyming system and sometimes intensely personal lyrical direction mean that Autonomy Music (more often than not) offers exactly the right amount of feel and atmosphere that one has come to expect from Nasa's ever-widening platform, Uncommon Records. </p>
<p>The record's first half (save the sample-lead, reflective and re-constructive intro of 'Art Gallery of Autonomy') serves as a more direct helping, whether it be via Fuze's self-deprecating honesty on 'The Darkest Place I've Ever Been' or the gritty, hard-nosed dissonance of 'EMPD'. The production is brilliantly judged at almost every point, and gives enough space for Fuze's laid-back but urgent tones to take the front and centre stage. </p>
<p>It's on the doom-laden 'Self Distortion' that things begin to get more poetically introspective. "Hell is a ferocious prison", quips Fuze with tangible vulnerability, with Curly Castro coming through with a verse the smacks of loss and disappointment. Though this track (and others before it) re-traces religious iconography, at first it's hard to know whether to take these references as sardonic or not, but on 'Time And Space' any rejection of nihilism is swiftly done away with; "Reaching for the teachings of God, when the hand that feeds is bitten off", jests Fuze cruelly, re-citing the same disdain for spiritual belief on the following 'Addicted to the Horn'. On the penultimate track 'Oddest Future', over Nasa's crushingly stomping boom-bap Fuze is almost reminiscent of Zach De La Rocha in his rapid fire, venomous righteousness. </p>
<p>Though Autonomy Music doesn't ever really drop the ball in terms of its thematic guidance, there are some less memorable moments. When it's at its absolute peak (the last four songs) it's steam-roller momentum comprised of reflection, personality and lyrical providence offers a vast plain of thought-provoking and musically hard-hitting listening. These days, Uncommon Records has basically become synonymous with esoteric quality. </p>
<p>7/10</p>Short Fuzetag:shortfuzeraps.com,2005:Post/43674372016-09-11T20:47:59-05:002021-10-18T10:54:29-05:00Damn That Noise Review <p>Original Link: <a contents="Damn That Noise Review" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://damnthatnoise.com/post/148345576726/short-fuze-uncommon-nasa-autonomy-music" target="_blank">Damn That Noise Review</a> by Ralph Perez<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/222855/6516a4da446fb05d153e33710c8015930b79c093/original/riveria.jpg?1473790292/!!/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg?1473790292" class="size_m justify_left border_thin" alt="" /><br><br>Autonomy Music is the 2nd full-length album from Short Fuze & Uncommon Nasa with the last being 2010’s Lobotomy Music, and it is a ride through internal struggles, depression, and spiritual wrestlings’.Short Fuze is the kind of MC who does not rush through a song layering his lines with vague plays on words as filler, this man is thoughtful, calculated, and sure of his voice. Uncommon Nasa is a skilled and respected MC in his own right, but with this project he has taken a supporting role on the mic, but a Director’s role on the sonic aspect, as the main Producer for the entire project with excellent results collectively. </p>
<p>If you came into this album hoping to not have to think then you’ve come to the wrong place becauseShort Fuze is going to question your stance on faith and science (“Time & Space”), our adolescent ideologies (“Beggar’s Buffet”), and also getting lyrically fit while paying homage to legends (“EPMD”). I respect MC’s like Fuze because you can hear from songs like the Curly Castro featured “Self-Distortion” that he carefully pens his thoughts out and lays out his vulnerabilities without apprehension, and anyone who can relay lines like “Of Course it’s come down to me and God and how much I’ve missed you. Father, you should’ve known I have commitment issues” is someone I want to continue to support and listen to. </p>
<p>Hip-hop is rooted often times, in talking about how dope you are, how tough you can be, how hard your crew is, and how unfuck-with-able you are in general, so when you get vulnerable & honest music from MC’s like Short Fuze (and Uncommon Nasa) it is almost our duty to support and share the music with anyone in range. Autonomy Music is a progressive piece of music from Uncommon Nasa’smasterful production job to Short Fuze’s near Hemmingway-Esq approach to writing about life and it is our duty as members, visitors, founders, and lovers of Hip-hop culture to make sure this reaches all corners of the listening map. </p>
<p> Rating: 9/10</p>Short Fuzetag:shortfuzeraps.com,2005:Post/43674282016-09-11T20:38:23-05:002016-09-13T14:59:19-05:00Scratched Vinyl Review<p>Original Link: <a contents="Scratched Vinyl Review" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://scratchedvinyl.com/?q=node/2506" target="_blank">Scratched Vinyl Review</a> by Chi Chi<br><br>Emcee Short Fuze and producer/emcee Uncommon Nasa have been frequent collaborators over the years. If you’re not already familiar with their music, all you have to do is listen to their third full length together, Autonomy Music, and you’ll immediately hear how well they complement each other. </p>
<p>There are a lot of things to like about Autonomy Music. If you’re familiar with Uncommon Nasa’s production, this is more of what he does best – some dense, prog-inspired beats that balance the weirdness of the underground hip hop of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s in New York, alongside the gritty-yet-pop-friendly production of New York groups of the early ‘90s like Wu Tang and Mobb Deep. Lyrically, Short Fuze finds a similar balancing act, bringing in some more abstract philosophical discussion alongside concrete personal narratives and pop-culture references. What really elevates the album, though, is the back and forth between the two artists. There are a few moments spread out over the course of the album where Uncommon Nasa places some audio clips before songs, and while in general I advise artists to do this sparingly and to try to keep things short as to not kill momentum, Nasa has a knack for finding some really compelling and thought-provoking clips that get you thinking, only to have the music kick in and Short Fuze piggybacks off of some of the ideas presented with his rhymes. Add in some guest verses from Nasa and Philly emcee Curly Castro, and we have one incredibly solid indie hip hop album. It’s weird without being alienating, and it’s fun while still being challenging and not afraid to embrace its oddness. </p>
<p>If you like your hip hop gritty and intellectual, but still having a pop sensibility and some humor, Autonomy Music is for you. Short Fuze and Uncommon Nasa really work well with each other, and the push and pull here has resulted in some really great hip hop. </p>
<p>Title: Short Fuze & Uncommon Nasa - Autonomy Music <br>Label: Uncommon Records <br>Year: 2016 <br>Rating: 8/10</p>Short Fuzetag:shortfuzeraps.com,2005:Post/43674182016-09-11T20:33:33-05:002016-09-12T11:33:37-05:00Spectrum Pulse Review<p>Original Link: <a contents="Spectrum Pulse Review" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.spectrum-pulse.ca/2016/07/album-review-autonomy-music-by-short.html" target="_blank">Spectrum Pulse Review</a> by Mark Grondon<br><br>Let's talk a bit about cosigns. </p>
<p>Because as a critic, I'm always pretty wary of them. You get plenty of artists who will pitch themselves as being 'like' a specific act, or being loosely affiliated with them, or using that one guest verse that was super tight to build a bridge of association that they'd never be able to hold again under tighter scrutiny. I tend to be a fair bit more forgiving when the act that I like outright endorses them, but again, I've always got a bit of skepticism. Sure, maybe this producer I really like helped cowrite or add verses to a project and he believes in its artistic intentions... or he's trying to give a friend a leg-up or use his status to elevate someone not ready for primetime. </p>
<p>And yet my skepticism was sorely tested when Uncommon Nasa reached out to me about this project. Given how much I absolutely loved his last album Halfway last year, I was pretty damn optimistic when he said that he contributed both verses and all the production to Chicago MC Short Fuze, who worked with Nasa back in 2010 for his debut Lobotomy Musicand who showed up for a pretty good guest verse on Halfway. And from what I know of Nasa, he isn't about to cosign or work with artists he wouldn't fully support, so I had some faith that this project could really hit home, especially as it was just under thirty five minutes, the sort of ruthlessly tight project that left no room for error. So I made sure to dig into Autonomy Music - did it stick the landing and meet expectations? </p>
<p>Well, in a way it did, because I definitely like this project, the sort of well-framed but slightly offkilter record that I would expect from these men - and yet I can't quite say I like it as much as I liked Halfway. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely solid with the brand of complicated lyricism and askew production that might initially disorient until you dig in - and yet it's also one of those projects that might be a little too scattershot and overstuffed for its own good, with the sort of density that doesn't quite reflect cohesion so much as so many ideas fighting for space. Oh, if you dig in deep to decode this record there is a framework around these ideas, but if I was looking for an album that could have used more time and room to breathe, it'd be this one. </p>
<p>Granted, a big part of that is Short Fuze and Uncommon Nasa themselves. At first listen they have similar flows in terms of the way their bars are constructed, not so much spoken word but free flowing thoughts that coast over unconventional rhyming structures that are definitely an acquired taste but one I do like. And both Uncommon Nasa and the sole guest star Curly Castro acquit themselves well here with more immediately expressive tones, mostly thanks to Nasa's slightly higher register and Castro's thicker rasp. Short Fuze himself... his voice is authoritative and I respect how his content is more introspective here, but I'm not always certain he conveys the emotive range as well as he could, and he can come across a bit monotone, like on 'Oddest Future'. Or take 'The Darkest Place I've Ever Been', a song that literally focuses on coming to the brink of suicide, and while I understand depression wouldn't lead to an incredibly expressive delivery, it still feels a tad flat here, especially in contrast. </p>
<p>Granted, it's not like Uncommon Nasa is giving Short Fuze easy beats to ride against, especially with as intricate and unconventional as these flows are. Much of this sample-heavy production is as noisy and dense as the rhyme patterns, including two sampled interludes that shows Nasa still has an uncanny knack for finding some poignant moments to further crystallize the themes. And like with Halfway, there are a few production choices that don't quite connect for me: the warping whir of squealing glitchy samples that seems to layer over a dense roiling beat and what might be a piano underneath on 'The Darkest Place I've Ever Been'; the buzzy synth that sprays over parts of the tapping beat, fuzzy blur of melody, and textured, slightly askew percussion on 'Time And Space'; the operatic vocal touches against the scratching of 'Oddest Future' feels like a weird blend of styles that doesn't quite mesh with an overlong hook; or the low oily tune behind the rattling bass and thicker cymbals on 'Beggar's Buffet' that builds into a blur of strings and heavier echo on the vocals on the hook. And again, I don't think that any of these production choices are bad - if you dig into the textures and instrumental you'll find real melody and potent hooks here - but again, this is material where it's going to take time to really appreciate, and it's not nearly as immediate or hard-hitting as other hooks here. And the thing is that those hooks are no less complicated - the keening layers of electric guitar that loop against noisy drums and trudging beat on 'Breakdance For The Def', the heavier bassline against the scratchy cymbals that plays off twinkling swells and a higher horn line that falls against the textured cushion of scratching and news samples on 'Perfect Health', the low synth against the stalking bassline, sparse percussion, thin horns and what sounds like seagulls echoing across the mix that builds to rattling faded elegance on 'Self Distortion', a vibe that later repeats on the horns, boom-bap beat, and low male backing vocals of 'Addicted To The Horn', all of which further impress that strong sense of New York atmosphere that's always permeated Nasa's production. And it's tough to pinpoint why those production choices work more for me - perhaps it's simply giving the track a little more room to breathe, or a stylistic experiment that clicks a little better - but I think it's more because the intricate production augments the complex flows and ideas, not obscures or muddies them. </p>
<p>And make no mistake, there's a lot going on lyrically on this album, even if on the surface the theme is well-established early: art used as a way to ensure autonomy in modern life, the freedom to make one's own path. And yet this record starts on bleak notes, as the album begins with uncertainty and depression, not having that clear path until hitting the lowest point, which allows this record to truly click into recovery mode less than five minutes in. Bit of a wonky way to open a record - normally you'd expect low points like this one to occur later on, but this record isn't so much delving into Short Fuze's personal anxieties so much as a focus on his relationship with the art itself, and an industry set against denying a hungry public any sort of hope of release through regurgitated product. And what I like is how for both Short Fuze and Uncommon Nasa, hip-hop goes beyond pure lyricism but into graffiti and other forms of art that tie into the culture beneath it that can transcend class and social divides - although they also don't shy away from how that art focus can have its dangers. 'Perfect Health' is a great example, a song that focuses on graffiti and gang tags and how hip-hop helped save Short Fuze's life in the long term, but it opens with a sample of someone describing how the paint fumes ultimately landed him in the hospital, and how he'd trade all of it back for perfect health. 'Self Distortion' goes even darker, showing how Short Fuze's struggles with his faith have left him even further astray, with hip-hop culture and a broken society exacerbating it, something the violence of Curly Castro's verse further emphasizes - and yet it's one of the reasons I really like the interlude 'Electric Blanket Conversation', a moment where a person rejects the electric blanket for cutting him off from the cold at night and his compassion - you know, reality. And as the album continues, you can tell Short Fuze is battling between his introspective impulses to further explore himself through art and isolate - an addictive compulsion, something he even calls out and highlights on 'Addicted To The Horn' in both content and samples - and to make a larger message. Now if I were to criticize the content, it'd come in that larger message on 'Oddest Future', which goes into social commentary flogging the mass media, with a paranoid edge that's probably not as well framed as it could be, especially with lines about the 'New World Order' and 'Occupy Wall Street is the new form of torture'. I get the darker, paranoid framing is part of the point, which is even called out on the final track 'Beggar's Buffet' in further highlighting how Short Fuze's worst moments he channels and deals with through his art - it's analogous to what Aesop Rock did this year on 'Molecules' off of The Impossible Kid - but it doesn't quite hit with the same impact, as the writing doesn't quite feel as focused - this record could have used a slightly stronger ending. </p>
<p>But really, that's nitpicking about details on a record that really does hold together well, and like any Uncommon Nasa-affiliated project reveals more details to appreciate with every listen. And make no mistake, this is definitely a record that demands a lot of repeated listens and has only gotten better in my eyes. I'm still a little on the fence whether I would say it was great - again, I think it's a shade weaker than Halfway in terms of focus and impact - but it has grown on me significantly over the dozen-plus times I've gone through it, and if the most major criticism I have is that it could afford to be expanded so we get more of it, that's a pretty minor complaint! So for me, I'm thinking a very light 8/10 and definitely a recommendation, especially if you're looking for some thoughtful, dense New York hip-hop to balance against the West Coast explosion this year. And Short Fuze, this is definitely what I like to see in a return to form, so definitely keep it up.</p>Short Fuze