There aren’t too many emcees like Brooklyn-born Necro, and to many, that’s probably a good thing. With his Psycho+Logical Records imprint, the thirty-something rapper focuses on violence, horror and Max Hardcore-style sex. On the flip-side, Necro could be argued as a product of “automatic guns at nuns” / “went to Hell for snubbin’ Jesus”-era Nas, and with his Kool G Rap-inspired delivery, few can ever really say that Necro’s delivery is not super-sophisticated, no matter his off-putting content. Die! is not going to win Necro any new fans or mark his great moment of maturity, but rather demonstrates more of the same – with allusions towards more experimental sample sources and tempos.
Necro raps about rough sex, much more Kool G Rap’s “Fuck U Man” than Nas’ “Dr. Knockboots.” He raps about killing people. He raps with aggressive atheism. He has been rapping about these kinds of things for years, and the content on Die! is no different. But really, could one expect any kind of deviation from his norm with song titles such as “The Kink Panther” and “The Human Traffic King”? Of greatest value on Die! is Necro’s production. Important to note is that not only are there guests on the lineup, but Necro produces all the material – truly making this a one-man show. The sample digging one can do with the beats Necro created is far more entertaining than any of his bars, as evidenced by the title track. While he’s busy claiming that he “beat the shit out of Jesus for being a faggot” over a sample from Dutch band Shocking Blue’s “Love Buzz,” “Die!”
ultimately ends up being not as captivating as a title track should be. While the rhyme will be memorable, if only for its shock value, the production still steals the spotlight.
Although highlights in the album are not as readily available as with previous albums, there are a few moments that stand out from the rest. Two such examples are the aforementioned “The Kink Panther” and “The Human Traffic King.” The former, which is introduced by a very explicit conversation involving words like “cunt-hole,” is a borderline playful song, with an instrumental that sounds like ‘60s Pop such as The Zombies or (ironically) The Kinks; almost fitting for a Tarantino soundtrack. As he drops metaphors such as “be my valentine / Get you drunk off Ballantine / Have dudes fighting over you like Palestine” amidst pornographic raps, it becomes apparent that perhaps Necro is to porn what Devin The Dude is to weed. On “The Human Traffic King,” he raps about just that: human trafficking. It is the one time on the whole LP where one may stop and wonder if he’s actually trying to get a message out about a serious problem in the world, or if he’s really trying to get into that scene. Nevertheless, lines like “economic hardship and poverty justifies human robbery / Predators look for easy targets, the black market of sodomy” do provoke some thought about the chilling issue at hand. “Viva Necro” is arguably the best track on the album, sounding almost like a war anthem, with high energy and slightly better lyrical flow than most of the other tracks.
A departure from Necro’s last three albums, Die! suffers from several brutal (no pun intended) moments. Listeners will hear this in “Brutalized” and “Bedbugs”, which is actually more skit than song. And, unfortunately for Necro, those two examples are part of a 17-track tennis match of mediocrity and experimentation, leaving limited redeeming points on Die! The rest of the album, including tracks such as “asBESTos” , “Thugcore Cowboy,” and “Serpent’s Bite” (which features the same sample used in Big Pun’s “Leatherface”), are plagued by an awkward flow made up of unjustified threats and braggadocio.
AD LOADING...
If Rap-inspired albums from Rudy Ray Moore a/k/a Dolemite and Blowfly could make you blush, then Necro’s Die! is Rosacea-inducing. If someone wasn’t already a fan of his, this won’t gain him any new ones. Unless, that is, someone is really into hearing about a guy screwing Lucifer’s mother and having copious amounts poop-chute fun. His so-called “Death Rap” is not for the easily-offended, but this album’s offering is also not Necro’s strongest work to date. If one can get past the lyrics, the past producer for Raekwon, Cage and Non Phixion shows why he’s had the skills to pay his bills for the last decade-plus. Still, for all his deviations and perversions, Necro makes Dr. Octagon appear more kid-friendly than Biz Markie.
