/inhale The other day, I got introduced to Phiik and Lungs via a post from the Passion of the Weiss label's Twitter account. I clicked because it said "Funcrusher 2024," and I'd recently given Company Flow's a listen and it's still independent as fox. I stayed because... what the fuck?!
The clip was from their 2022 Top Shelf Premium freestyle session, where they spit two tracks: "Played Myself Again Loop" from Lungs' 2021 tape The Birth of LoneSword and "Jim 'The Hammer" Shapiro" from their first Another Planet project, which both songs being beautiful examples of this
It took a bit for me to figure out what was going on. On first listen, I had to admit: it had been a while since I'd heard someone rap over something that haunting...without drums. And when you couple that with how densely-packed their verses are? They are definitely definitively juxin', but I had to do some investigating. On what planet does this just happen? Another Planet, apparently.
While I was diving deep into the drudges of the internet during the pandemic, these two dove deep into their bag. It's admirable, to be honest. With all of the responsibilities you can acquire, it can be hard to lock in on your square and birth flowers from the musique concrète. This was best found in Another Planet 4, which dropped in February 2023 and features frequent collaborators like Fatboi Sharif. Praise whoever decided to throw subtitles on the video for this project's lead single, "Don Quixote." It's really some "play twice before listening" shit; the perfect (drumless) loop, the dizzying barrage of bars barreling by you. Phiik's bars in particular make me want to write like I used to, write to abuse you, write like Dallas Penn (RIP) was standing behind me like, "now it's on you." Maybe that's why I'm here.
Look: it's been a minute since hip-hop shook me enough to open up the Blogger. (I almost hopped on here to dissect a horror movie on wax "meet the grahams," but I had work to do.) I'm still downloading promos, I'm still listening to all of the dnb, and I hope that Cash Cobain makes it a slizzy summer. Until then? It's running back Another Planet 4 ahead of the release of Carrot Season, which they previewed months back with the video for "Gazpacho." That says "Spring 2024," but it sounds like this shit is dropping SOON soon.
Go down the rabbit hole. Now. Do the thing you have been saying you were gonna do. Now. We don't know what's happening tomorrow/next week/next month/next year. Regret is ass, and in another election year, maybe Lungs and Phiik are what we need to help make sense of it all, one complex stanza of a rap verse at a time. /exhale
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