Pedro 'DJ Complejo' HernandezBlind purchasing is a practice that is reserved to the foolish and the nostalgic. Considering the price of gas nowadays, the act of driving anywhere without absolute necessity is a bit foolish, but combining that with the purchase of something you know nothing about confirms the foolishness of a blind purchase. Despite the inherent foolishness of the act, nostalgia sometimes gets the better of me and I still trek to the store and put my faith in chance. While not completely random, my blind purchases are far from sure things. Part of me likes to relive my teenage years where I had no choice but to blind purchase since there was no place to preview music and most rappers were lucky to drop one single. A bigger part of me is tired of playing the smart consumer and heading to Rhapsody to preview that CD I was looking forward to before ultimately realizing it’s not really worth the money or gas. I can only take so many Tuesdays without hitting up the CD shelves before I force myself to pull a Shawty Lo and act real foolish.
Grave Plott is the product of one of my foolish treks to the store. Out of many such purchase I’ve made, Grave Plott was actually one of the more informed acquisitions I’ve made. I hadn’t heard of Killa C or Liquid Assassin before, but the group was on Tech N9ne’s Strange Music and featured the man himself as well as Spice 1, Haystak, and Brotha Lynch Hung. Given that the production was handled by the same guys who handled Tech N9ne and Krizz Kalico’s latest, this seemed like it would be the least foolish of my foolish purchases. Unfortunately, as educated as I tried to make this purchase, the end result was still as disappointing as every “bonus dvd” Best Buy has ever thrown my way. Killa C and Liquid Assassin are two horrorcore rappers who teamed up for a group effort. Despite being decorated with the best production and guest line-up that any horrorcore rappers have had – ever – Grave Plott still let their true colors shine. The guys have average flows, average lyrics, and little creativity. I’m not surprised since I find that to be the problem with 99% of the rap that’s dedicated to the dark and occult.
The only real highlights end up coming from everyone BUT Killa C and Liquid Assassin. “Street Life” has a dope west-coast inspired beat that’s perfect for the summer time and Spice 1 sounds as dope as ever as he declares “I’m spice with no sugar, I spill your kool-aid.” It’s great to hear Spice 1 still going strong especially considering he was shot just a few months ago. “Bad Bitch” has another dope beat, but Killa C and Liquid Assassin sound awkward and insincere trying to rap about the ladies. “Buckin” has a nice dark/dirty south vibe to it, but in the end I would have preferred for it to have been a Haystak solo and since Haystak spits the hook it might as well have been. It’s kind of sad, but these guys get seriously outshined on almost every track. If you check out “Snap” it’s going to be for the Tech N9ne verse. “Murda Iz Tha Time, Pt. 2” and “Need A Change” don’t really come alive until Krizz Kalico is let loose.
To Grave Plott’s credit, “The Plott Thickens” is probably better than most of the horrorcore that’s dropped this year. The Strange Music production team and guest spots make it so there are a few highlights on the album. Still, Killa C and Liquid Assassin aren’t very compelling rappers in any form or fashion. To make matters worse, the guys drop the N-word a few times and personally white people and racial slurs don’t get my business. Basically, Grave Plott is another disappointment on my list of foolish purchases. Yet, the foolish purchases won’t stop because at least for the short drive between the store and my house I’m filled with anticipation and hope. It’s the same anticipation and hope I used to feel every time I bought a CD. Nowadays, with leaks, mixtapes, and the internet it’s almost impossible not to know what to expect from a CD. In a way, things might be better today if you’re all about spending your money wisely, but I figure if the music is going to be wack you might as well have fun buying it.