Daniil Osipenko
“House with Normal Phenomena” is an album that fully lived up to the expectations placed on it. Moreover, the release was liked even by those who did not expect anything from it at all.
For the first time in many years, a shot rang out in the cozy swamp of Russian-language rap. Loud and booming. Moreover, a shot from a real cannon, and not from a ridiculous bicycle dog, as in the case of the Jewish grime artist.
The walls began to shake. The game is over. Rap artists of all stripes sang the shooter's praises in unison.
But is the release of the Kazakh successor Basta as good as it is praised? Let's figure it out.
The success of this release is so great for several reasons:
Firstly.
The album is based on the formula beloved by Western rap artists:
Pussy (bitches) + Money (money) + weed (drugs) = Profit (profit)
The meaning of life - all of it - rests on these three pillars. target audience genre.
The world would fucking collapse if all these three things disappeared from the life of the average listener.
Moreover, this formula works equally well, both for those who buy the release with money secretly dangling from their mother’s wallet, and for those who give their hard-earned money.
But this is only one third of success.
Secondly.
Scriptonite's debut album is such a rich range of sounds that words cannot describe it. Need to hear.
There's a hell of a lot of genres mixed together. There is everything here: from boom bap to rock and roll, from crunk to G-funk. Take it, don't be shy.
Everything is very musical and beautiful. Hooks are firmly and long-lastingly etched in the memory.
The beats persistently remind you that you can not only eat with your head, but also shake it rhythmically. Scryptonite's daring flow couldn't come at a better time.
Thirdly.
In my opinion, the most important thing in the album is its philosophy and atmosphere.
Almost any young person can easily draw a parallel between his life and what Adil shares with us on his record.
Everyone can find at least something on the release that intersects with situations that they have experienced or are experiencing now.
Get in line. Come on.
Do you dream of raising money, breaking out of poverty and paying off your sacred duty to your parents?
Then take “Paper” - a kind of anthem for all young people from the bottom, seasoned with philosophical reasoning.
Are you so tormented by depression that you have to drown it out with alcohol?
- “Cognac” - receive it, sign for it. the quintessence of loneliness and the futility of existence in one bottle.
Brother, do you have an unhealthy and destructive relationship with your young lady?
Take “Dance by yourself.”
So what's the result?
If it were not for the abundance of jargon and unclear diction (read: careless attitude to recording), the release would have resonated with a wider mass of people.
Although it may not be needed at all.
The bottom line is that we probably get an album of the year, if not a five-year album. And together we are waiting for the second album of Scryptonite, which will be released very soon.
Edik Dolgopolov
Wow, how Skripy turned everything around! Now a drunk rapper is cool again! For many years, rap tried to abstract itself from propaganda (propaganda is a mention, and not just calls) harmful to the body of listeners, and when this finally began to work out, Skripi releases an album in which, from cover to cover, about booze and drugs and (drum fraction) this is recognized as a breakthrough! All! All sorts of non-core publications from Rolling Stone to Gazeta.ru insist that this new level Russian rap, for which you are not ashamed!
What is the secret of success?
Firstly, attitude towards your music. It is painstaking, but not fanatical. You listen and understand that Adil raised each track like a child. With love, with complete dedication. I completely share Karandash’s surprise at how such music can be made. No one has ever strayed so far from the standards of constructing a hip-hop composition. Even Oksimiron Porchi spent the evening analyzing the entire production of this album, instrument by instrument. Profit.
Secondly, talent. The talent to idolize the image of an unflattering bag of organs and a bottle of cognac in the stomach into the charismatic hero of Tarantino’s films. Alcohol doesn’t make people as beautiful as in the “Hangout” video, but Scryptonite wants to believe in the image of a fumes-fueled romantic without a grain of doubt. Very rarely do I feel the energy from an artist who pulls me by the hand into a free fall in a bottomless den, gasping with all his might and talking about everything he sees in this strange, half-asleep and unconscious world. Or, when everything is clear, he wearily reflects on the most sacred thing that can occasionally visit this hungover world - love. This is a one-way dialogue where I don’t want to ask questions, I just want to listen further.
This project is dedicated to the key Russian-language rap records of the current decade, which turned out to be the most important for the genre, changed its context, ignited new heroes and are worthy of inclusion in a kind of golden fund of Russian rap. Project materials are published once a week on Mondays.
Fact
“House with Normal Phenomena” is the debut album of Adil Zhalelov, released on November 23, 2015 on the “Gazgolder” label.Context
In December 2013, Scryptonite released the video “VBVVCTND” (another name is “Choice without options”), attracted the attention of Basta, and a couple of months later he became an artist of “Gazgolder”. True, if the circumstances had been a little different, there might not have been Scriptonite on the Gaza:“I didn’t expect that there would be such a resonance [from the video]! And Kolya, Gazgolder’s manager, contacted me and asked, “Are you going to release an album?” Well, that’s it, after a week it was forgotten. Then the Soyuz studio appeared, they offered a contract to release an album. We discussed all this with them for a long time, my brain was already racing. I don’t understand (anything) about this - I want to write rap, I don’t want to participate in this. And then Kolya calls again, “How are you?” he says. I told him about Soyuz, he: “How? What? Why? We’re interested in the album!” Well, somehow they settled it all.” This is from an interview with Scryptonite three years ago.
The upbeat trap that many expected after Scryptonite’s first singles on “Gazgolder” has not gone away. Another thing was surprising: Scriptonite equally easily jumped from trap beats to slow, almost blues numbers, and then at the finish line gave out the amazing coda “This is love.”
The listener might not fully understand individual words, but as if enchanted he returned to every song on the album and continued to delve into the life stories of Pavlodar.
Best tracks
"Cognac"
“We did not become poor, we were beggars at the very beginning” - an icy song about the life of Pavlodar without embellishment. “We don’t love him because he’s handsome. Or it smells good. You love your romanticized periods of life in it. For some kind of dirt, for a story that doesn’t exist in other cities,” is how Scryptonite describes his hometown in one of his last interviews.
"Hangout"
The song is a short retelling of the entire album. It’s no coincidence that a still from the “Hangout” video became its cover.
"Dance by yourself"
The drunken stupor here is combined with the theme of love and relationships - this is how one of the most memorable numbers of the album turned out.
"Style"
The first version of “Style” Everyone heard it back in the spring of 2015, when a crazy video with loaded vocals was released. The album version did without vocal effects and was enriched with a verse by ATL - the only guest on the album, besides Scryptonite's bandmates in Jillzay.
"Love"
The final number of the album, which, I have a feeling, increased the number of girls at Scryptonite concerts several times. An indicative comment: “Adil once sent me one verse, I probably listened to it a million times. And I regretted that I didn’t write such a song myself,” this is how Vasily Vakulenko described “Love.”
Meaning
The guys liked “House with Normal Phenomena” for its straightforwardness. The girls repeated “Dance yourself” and “This is love” as best they could. Music snobs reluctantly admitted that yes, they did not expect this. Fans of Scryptonite’s early work shook their heads to “Lam” and “Style”. Finding a dissatisfied listener of “Dom” is an almost impossible task.It's the same story with critics who competed in superlatives. Music journalist Alexander Gorbachev chose the definition of “genre-forming record” - and a year and a half after the release, in fact, it seems that nothing more powerful and cooler has ever come out. And the only thing that can compete with “Home” is the album from the next, final chapter of our series.
“The House with Normal Phenomena” showed that genre boundaries are an empty convention. And the music of Scriptonite expanded this framework several times. And from the first run she gave our stage a new hero.
Reader's poll
Is Scryptonite's "The House With Normal Things" in the top 20 rap albums of the 2010s?Are album reviews necessary in 2015? Colleague Redkin confidently stated that no, they argued in the comments and explained that they were needed. Here, surprisingly, I am on the side of the commentators. Reviews are needed. At least for such albums. Large, important, all-consuming - with which the year will then be associated.
“House with Normal Phenomena” is an alcoholic frenzy and a guide to the life of Pavlodar. A city that seems dark, aggressive, assertive. Where, it seems, it’s easier to get a bottle of vodka for breakfast than a bag of Lipton. The bitch is dragging you to the bottom, there are dens and trap houses all around, in the hero there is half a liter of vodka mixed with marijuana, and problems in feelings are cured only by a plan. If I could describe the album in one word, “energy” would be the best word.
There are doubts that a teetotaler could even make such an album. The drunken hysteria here is carried over from song to song, along with a headache and not always legible lyrics. And all this is only complemented by crazy production. Scriptonite, who has long established himself not only as a rapper, but also as a talented beatmaker, here boldly mixes hip-hop with, for example, blues and rock. Before this, it was appropriate, for example, on a rap side project of The Black Keys, but not in Russian rap.
There is such a point of view: a literary hero can be considered a protagonist when he goes through some path during the course of the work. When the events of history directly affect him. The main character of this album is rather the city of Pavlodar - with its screaming depression and eternal melancholy: “We did not become poor, we were poor at the very beginning.” Previously, by the way, Dirty Louie conveyed such sentiments better than others. And now - here, an artist of the “Gazgolder” label.
Outside the context of the album, Scryptonite turns into a superhero. Which gives away style, pushes the boundaries of the genre and brings something new to it. He records songs that knock you off your feet and immediately makes a neutral listener fall in love with you.
I caught myself thinking: the previous paragraph sounds like an enthusiastic press release that arrives in batches in our inbox. Behind them, however, are hidden albums that we forget about after just five minutes. It’s impossible to forget about “Home” even after a month.
What’s important: he continues to reveal new sides. There are killer songs here that will captivate you from the first listen. And there are those who take it a little later. During this month, ten album tracks managed to reach the status of favorite songs. Probably the others' turn will come a little later. And now I listen to “Cognac” and “Dreams” more often than others.
“House with Normal Phenomena” is the best album of 2015. Because he pushed the boundaries like no one else. Because it continues to reveal itself from new sides. Because in these songs you want to not only delve into and look for new meanings, but also just listen. Because “Dance by yourself”, “This is love” and “Style”.
So much of the latter has been handed out here that even those who don’t care about it at all should finally get into it. And reach for Scriptonite. It is albums like this that motivate you to move forward. These are the ones you need to look up to. “The House with Normal Happenings” does not turn the game around, but shows how to move to the next level, taking a confident step forward.
That's why Skryptonite recorded the album of the year.
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