(OBS: Since the review is almost twice as long as the character limit on an album-chart, I will post it here, and link it on my actual Top 100 Greatest Albums chart).
Singlehandedly the most important record in my life. Yes, this is the only and I mean the ONLY album that, by high definition, changed me and my life. Up yours, if Hopsin is not the most poetic or lyrical or beat-worthy or whatever MC you'll ever know, his way of completely and utterly understanding me and that fact he has created an unbreakable, virtually unsurpassable reflection of my life and states of mind with Knock Madness, is more than what anyone has ever accomplished. Screw you circle jerks for having a strong opinion about me being a Hopsin fan, continued threatening and bullying me online isn’t gonna help your case. Mocking me for loving this album has never made the album less important…it has only proved why I needed it in the first place. The same people who call Hopsin corny often behave exactly like the social machinery this album taught me to reject: ego-filled, allergic to sincerity, and eager to humiliate anyone whose taste falls outside the approved script.
Pt. I: It’s impact
I was 14 when Knock Madness entered my life in mid-2015. The album had already been out since November ’13, and I only knew Hopsin because my brother’s girlfriend had once shown me I Need Help (and Sag My Pants). Then one day, I saw the CD in a local music store. I remembered the cover, bought it almost on instinct (my unfortunate - but in this context, fortunate - strategy at the time was just to buy all CDs I was fairly interested in), and a few weeks later I started playing the full album while gaming (Skate 3), long sessions at home, music becoming a second world inside the first. That was how I discovered music then. It was also how I grew to love Beatles, Gorillaz etc around the same time. My favorite ever albums almost never overwhelm me on first listen, they simply refuse to leave. They start as great company and slowly become part of my internal vocabulary. KM is the purest example of that process, cause it didn't stand out in that manner to begin with. First few times I heard it, every song simply went hard. Since I was heavy into Eminem already, it was natural for me to enjoy it as like a natural continuation. The seventh time, I realized there wasn't a weak track. The sixteenth time, I realized I wasn't just replaying an album, I was replaying a version of myself that finally felt awake. But Knock Madness also did something else entirely. It did not just become part of my taste. It detonated something…everything.
KM didn’t just creep into my soul, it redefined what my soul was: it started the ultimate butterfly effect. Before the album nollie tre flipped into my life in mid-2015, I was terribly suppressed and depressed, as a human and spirit, by the society around me, principally my family members. But not knowingly. I didn't think I was living under constant pressure. I thought that was simply what life was. I had no comparison. When you're raised inside a system, you don't usually experience it as a system, you experience it as reality and God's honest truth. Everyone was pushing me to be as controlled, and normal as possible. And it largely worked, because I was taught that misery and genuine sadness were me overreacting and it was me that had to learn to adapt. If I got bullied or physically assaulted, I got punished for it. I was always thinking my family and the world was right, because that's what somebody would think if they've never been given the tools to think of the possibility that they're being gaslit. At 14, I couldn't and didn't know a distinction. When I bought this album and started listening to it religiously, everything went sideways. Hopsin, by way of lyrical combat skills and musical engrossment, reinvented how I thought of myself and the world. The sheer confidence of expressing the skeleton in the closet in Hop's delivery boosted my own ability to speak my mind. My different [personality] traits got enhanced and I embraced it. It birthed my punk rock spirit, I rebelled against what was wrong in my life. The effect continued when my bluntness also resulted in depression coming out of its hiding place, yet helped me push away all the damaging folks. My mom helped to realize the toxicity under our roof, and for that, she's also grateful for what Hopsin has done. Hopsin’s music enhanced not only my open-mindedness for all genres of music, but also my personality traits and roads of life. Internally because I realized my self-perception, and externally for the courage.
Often, when people say an album changed their lives, they mean altered their music tastes. In that case, Knock Madness is highly credited to me as I quickly got into alternative music in general. Knock Madness made imperfection sound alive. It taught me that a song could be awkward, ugly, overstuffed, funny, angry, technically impressive, and emotionally naked at the same time. Before that, I treated music more like a consumer product. After it, I started hearing albums as worlds built by flawed people. Sonically, cause I instantly was more open to the beauty of imperfections, and aesthetically cause it became cool that everything was done by one person instead of a team. For nearly every cool album you see me praising, I wouldn't have loved, liked, or even checked out, had this album not busted these locked doors open, and moved me away from muzak consumerism.
Over a decade later, the result is palpable. That individual the people around have described as open-minded, honest, authentic, intriguing, etc, is the one whose New Testament is Knock Madness. On top of all this, I have loads of nostalgia for it too. It takes me back to playing video games at home, early night walks in the city, and my spirit learning what authenticity and bravery are.
Trying to underestimate the influence of this album on me is like trying to sweep The Velvet Underground’s influence on rock music under the rug. Getting rid of Knock Madness’ permanent mark on me is like getting rid of autism; it’s a lost cause and shouldn’t happen.
Pt. II: The music
Alright, let’s talk about the album itself.
Pt. II.I: The beats
No matter the initial musical aspects of the songs, Hopsin turns them into an innovative horrorcore soundscape and personalizes it: Hop Is Back is The Next Episode turned horrorcore, Who’s There is the minimalistic Neptunes turned horrorcore, Rip Your Heart Out is scatterbrained Swizz Beatz turned horrorcore, Nollie Tre Flip and Gimmie That Money are the mystic 00s boom bap turned horrorcore, Still Got Love For You is poppy Dilla turned horrorcore etc. Even the outlier of Lunch Time Cypher has a very subtle gloomy drone underneath the beatboxing.
Just like the typical classics like OK Computer, The Downward Spiral, Live.Love.A$AP, this album is varied but manages to always paint the new picture with the same navy blue brushes. Even better with the fact that it’s not just horrorcore but the quintessential emotional output within the song topics are broaden: Dream Forever has a gothic choir mixed with a quiet surreal piano-effect that makes it successfully dream-like, Tears To Snow has a mourning synth broken up by angry-numb syncopation, Good Guys Get Left Behind feature bells reminiscent of evergrowing loneliness and teen angst, Old Friend’s humid-air keys feels very grief-ish, the openness in the instrumental of What’s My Purpose is both humble and full of clairvoyance, and Caught In The Rain’s whirl of piano and restorative synth is the effect of the calm state after having the most tear-filled intervention.
You’d notice that I mention synths alot, but they are a hidden protagonist in the instrumental. They are both very DIY, never too big-budget, yet they sound utterly professional and perfect in execution, direction, and emotion. Just like the drums, I mean it is a rap album after all so of course the drums are engineered to divine-level. Despite being impeccably focused and among the forefront, they, for each tune, give way to the atmosphere surrounding. And the match for every song: the snare in Hip Hop Sinister sound like bones breaking, the drums in Nollie Tre Flip is wavy like a skate-ramp, the shaman in Dream Forever, and Good Guys Get Left Behind's zigzagging (not to mention the obvious ones like Lunch Time Cypher's impeccable beatbox-mastering and Jungle Bash's jungle bash). The whole sonic world is like a backrooms level of fresh air, full moon, safe but creatures around. Whether they chase you or you chase them depends on the spinning track.
Pt. II.II: Hopsin’s presence
Horrorcore and pop sensibility are synthesized to create something very personal, whilst switching the sound up from track to track. His vocal is a tasteful mixture of Eminem's infinite shock value, Busta Rhymes’ dynamite flow, and satire of pop radio deep cuts.
Hopsin is genius enough to know the quintessential rhythm cadence for each type of instrumentation, however his anti-subtle lyricism is always present, always surprising even when anticipated. He doesn’t just scratch the clarity-itch, he bites into it. And that’s the thing, Hopsin’s greatest technical gift is not just speed, rhyme density, or shockability. It is clarity. Plenty of microphone controllers can stack syllables until the verse looks impressive on paper. Hopsin makes the thought cut through throats. Even when he is being ridiculous, bitter, childish, funny, cruel, or wounded, you know exactly what psychic room he is standing in. That clarity matters in hip hop. It is the difference between wordplay as a sort of decoration and rapping as direct impact.
Hopsin’s two-sided mindset, portrayed in his music is endorphins and dopamine embodiment. Whether it would be an extremely superb vigorousness coming through in Hip Hop Sinister or the rhythmic avalanche Rip Your Heart Out, he'd always express the aggressive, super energetic side of me. What makes last mentioned it a special tune, is that the instrumental is shaped to rap fast (and although it has weighed off me a lot, and I find 85% of it pointless and empty, this fire tune is 4 minutes of ripping out my lung capacity). Contrarily, Still Got Love For You is produced for the playful aspect of fast flow (as phenomenally showcased by Hop’s verses).
Simultaneously the Marcus songs like the paramount goosebumper Caught In The Rain, the tremendous Old Friend, or the dystopian Dream Forever (roughly makes my heart skip a beat), he is describing a humane emotion, so magical and thriving. This brilliant record always sounds exciting to me for every single track on there, while/well it is more than very exciting every time I bump it.
Marcus is the everyday man: hurt, observant, lonely, sentimental, still capable of grief. Hopsin is what happens when that man stops apologizing. He is not just a mask; he is the defense mechanism that became a superpower. Marcus is Bruce Wayne, but Hopsin is not Batman… he is closer to the Joker, the guilty grin that appears after innocence has been cornered too many times that it’s erased.
One of the greatest, most astounding things about Hopsin is that he always puts the music as a rare species into perspective, and takes hidden chances, rather than hiding his image behind lame samples (the more we’ve gotten into the nostalgia-bait culture, the better this disc sounds to me). A shining example is (previously mentioned) both ‘radio-friendly’ and gleamingly elegant Still Got Love For You, where the chorus demonstrates balls by Hopsin singing falsely ON PURPOSE (with staggering effect), thus flipping the whistling bird to major labels and critics; he can do whatever he wants (sing off-key, speak his ill mind), and he does it exceptionally.
Hop Is Back might be my favorite lead single ever. For me, cause of his animalistically carefree delivery, it is an impossible task for my smiley face to withstand. Nollie Tré Flip, which is a true seasonal skater anthem for the ears, both for cold winter nights or the middle of the summer - it’s blazingly delivered.
And the guests add so much more character to the individual tracks: SwizZz on flamboyant and cinematic tribal belter Jungle Bash. Jarren Benton (with the sour voice) and Dizzy Wright (as an appealing stoner) on the grotesque horror core banger Who’s There. Previously mentioned Rip Your Heart Out gets Tech N9ne from Strange Music to spit the heat, teaming up with our main character. Finally, the two more unknown but cathartic (Passionate MC and G-Mo Skee) on the splendidly wavy and lyrical gratification Lunch Time Cypher, a throwback of sorts to good freestyle memories in the primary school days (“fuck all that Hollywood shit, let’s fucking rap man”).
And then there are hooks. Anyone and everyone who listens to Knock Madness and makes bad remarks about the hooks is self-selected and jumped into the trap. Our character describes how the textual ‘quality’ of these newly applauded acts destroys the industry, and he feels it is a disaster. Commercialized hooks must be the least important element in a rap number, and Hopsin gets it daringly illustrated by satirizing it. Additionally, by their imperfections, making them more immaculate. The hooks on Knock Madness are not always conventionally pretty, but they are always character-driven and fitting. They sound like someone mocking radio while secretly understanding radio. They are surrealistically catchy, obnoxious, wounded, funny, and sometimes deliberately wrong. That wrongness is part of the album’s personality, the same way our favorite lo-fi records feel more genuine than squeaky clean production. That imho, is intelligence and art!
Pt. II.III: The lyrics
On the predecessor Raw, he was a hitherto resistance fighter against at-the-time hated rappers like Soulja Boy, and Lil Wayne. With Hop Is Back, he takes another chance and goes up against the higher-beloved temporary icons like Kanye and Kendrick. The tune has to that extent received a mixed reception from different points of view. It ages better and better, like wine turned into the blood in my veins.
And despite many lines throwing light on Hop’s negative emotions on fame, not only does he make sure to not make it too bombastic of a topic around the album, but there’s always a bigger and more personal problem: a hidden supremely intelligent way of showing how he is still human.
There's of course the expressive combo of Marcus and Hopsin - or where we see that it’s the same human - on songs like Good Guys Get Left Behind and I Need Help (a direct discourse between both alternate egos). Formerly mentioned are some of the deep thoughts and feelings I've had with females in the past, but I never even dared to admit (just the) frames of those feelings, even for myself - as I was suppressed inside-out. So for Hop to have written those cuts that I heard at a very strange time in my life, it's unbelievable. Essentially and realistically, unlike so many acclaimed and also great albums released before and especially after, Hopsin truly does not care about what people think, in the sense that he does not alter or pull punches to please an audience. If he likes Twilight, he’ll know a reference in a song. In other words, the shameless and fearless authenticity mixed with sheer confidence makes Knock Madness a tour de force of lyrical gut punches, the most majestic album for outcasts since the peak of Morphine. The five stages of lyrical grief are intertwined and swirling all around: witness in Dream Forever, the whole building block is of denial, until it suddenly is acceptance before ending in somewhat depression, or in Old Friend the first verse is a combo of denial and depression, second verse bargaining and third verse acceptance. Despite many a delicious theatrical element throughout, performative is the last thing Knock Madness is.
I do not experience Knock Madness as a flawless album because every choice is conventionally perfect. I experience it as flawless because its so-called flaws are structural, purposed, empowering. Change the awkward hook, the overlong rant, the tasteless joke, the blunt line, the weird vocal choice, and you do not “fix” the album. You remove part of its nervous system. It is like trying to clean up the White Album until it becomes a different, less consequential record. The effective trance it puts me in, every minute of every song, makes me appreciate life more when it’s done playing. Despite the cynical overtones, it’s an adventurous lab of stories, an ever-evolving therapy session, a humble set of eternal bangers, and (only for me) a nostalgic wake up call. I have it easier to enjoy more music and things after I have given Knock Madness another spin, despite nothing touchin it.
And it’s all right there in Knock Madness. A winding and bloody horror cabinet of monster-cuts. A consistently fascinating record, with so many personal stories, humorous moments, and progressiveness, that it cannot fit my mind of mine sometimes. EVEN lovelier considering the fact that he has written, composed, and produced all of it in independence, by himself (minus the guests). Everything about and around KM is fearless (most definitely, relatability-wise). When my life is over, I would still stand by my statement that it is one of my life's most clearly principal works, musically. Theres only so much room in this description (characters are running out now), but to anyone further wondering how much of my life has changed, feel free to contact me; I’m way better at explaining them in dialogue. To any viewer/reader, who says to me that Hopsin sucks nuts, I’ll jump-kick yo ass thru the glass o'de booth window. And to Marcus, thank you! _________________ My Top 100 :
www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=4...amp;page=1
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DommeDamian
