and yes, I did copy and paste the punctuation--wanted to be sure I got it right! dope cover art, no?
Who Told You To Think??!!?!?!?! is the fifth studio album from my favorite rapper Milo, and the subject of my next superficial foray into cultural criticism.
I've been a fan of Milo's for quite some time now, and will never forget the day I discovered his unique brand of "art rap" on Last.FM one summer in an attic in Detroit. That was back in his early days, when he seemed to be stunting much more than he does now. Or maybe the stunting just took different forms. Then, it seemed like his go-to weapons were nerdy cultural references and sick one-liners, which just so happened to be squarely up my alley at the time.
I really felt like I identified with Milo like no other rapper I've come across. Underneath his nerdcore and bravado was a delicious mix of introspection and book recommendations that I simply ate up. He wasn't afraid to allude to all the obscure philosophy he was studying in college, and I wished I were only as well-read and as talented at conveying that as he is.
And as wack as "rapping my booklist" may sound, the most magnificent thing about Milo's talent is that he never came off as wack or tryhard to me. I know no better sign of a true, talented artist.
Enough background; here's what he sounded like back in the day!
One Lonely Owl, from the first Milo project I heard, I Wish My Brother Rob Was Here
One of my favorite things about this track is its texture, it's aesthetic. It's incredible! Definitely not the hottest banger off the album, but definitely a solid representation of why I first fell in love with Milo. I wish I could live inside the world of this song. I'm not entirely sure what that means or why I feel it, but it's powerful. And that love I feel has just continued to grow with Milo, as his sound and his style and his talent improved over time.
I feel like I liked each subsequent album more than the one before it, and found myself looking forward to the next Milo project/marking time by his work. His last two studio albums-- A Toothpaste Suburb and So The Flies Don't Come both really blew me away and stayed on repeat for over a year.
fav track from Toothpaste-- that Kool AD verse is on a plane of its own
another incredible musical universe from Milo's Flies Don't Come--second verse still melts my brain
So, TL;DR: I've loved Milo for a while.
And then Milo's latest album came along and challenged the fuck outta me!!!! I'm STILL wrapping my head around the album and what I think about it-- and I've had it since the day it dropped and listened to it who knows how many times!
There are two main things that primed my experience: First, Milo hyped the FUCK outta this album. I was lucky enough to catch him on tour last year (for Flies), and could tell by his live performance that he was On One, and was cooking up something magical. It was infectious. The way he seemed to drift into and out of our dimension... it was addictively original. And when he started saying this album was his best yet (which, on the one hand, is to be expected? but was also said with such force that it awed me!), I couldn't help but get excited!
The other big thing that's primed my experience was how goddamn much I loved Flies. I really think it may be one of my favorite albums of all time. A big part of that had to do with when it came out-- Kendrick's To Pimp A Butterfly had blown me away earlier in the year, but I was in a much different place by the time Flies came out, and I felt like Milo nailed similar ideas even better than Kendrick did! The cultural criticism, the commentary on our crazy zeitgeist, the personal fortitude obvious in his reflection and creation... it really is a masterpiece. And because of that, it would be impossible for me not to carry that experience into WTYTT??!!?!?!?!.
Don't get me wrong, the first half of the album is INCREDIBLE-- track after track, Milo DELIVERS. But then something happens around the second half of the album, and I just feel like it loses me. I mean that in two ways-- not only does it lose me as an album, a composition of multiple tracks that's greater than the sum of the parts, but also in its substance. I can't shake this feeling that there's more to the project that I'm not getting... which is a similar feeling I have towards the first Blade Runner, Akira, and several other cult stars that I feel I should love more than I do. And so I've listened to the album time and time again, but yet still feel like I'm developing my opinion of it.
Maybe that's a sign of greatness? Maybe I'll come back to the album down the road and finally feel like I get it? Or maybe it's just a different project from a different Milo, a sign of his growing mastery as an artist, something unique and different.
the artist himself
I'd never say I didn't like WTYTT??!!?!?!?!, and I still consider Milo to be my favorite rapper and easily one of my favorite musicians of any genre, period. And yet I can't help but feel frustrated that this project doesn't feel as accessible to me as his last ones have-- it isn't as easy to love; it makes me feel like it's teasing me with some greater value, and it's the sort of tease that feels beyond the pale to the point that it isn't fun anymore! I don't know how to get there, to the place of better understanding of this project-- repeated listens just don't seem to do it. And then I begin to wonder what it is about me that colors my impression of the album, and I wonder if I'm not just being a poopy-butt fan.
I can say with certainty that I'll wait with bated breath for Milo's next release. Hell, I'll probably see him live on this tour of his, for the second time. Love aside, my frustration with WTYTT??!!?!?!?! has conjured up some pettiness in me-- first, for his friend Safari Al RUDELY REJECTING MY GIFT OF A HUNK OF COAL on their last tour, and second, for Milo seeming never to have featured a lady rapper? There are so many good ones out there, and yet there are so many dudes in Milo's projects! WTF!!!!
Final verdict: The album's awesome and so is Milo. Go see him live! Or tell me what you think about him and his music in the comments below!
Milo's current tour
