Steve 'Flash' Juon“Wendy? Darling?! Light of my life? I’m not gonna hurt ya.”
The sample of Jack Torrance’s unhinged dialogue from “The Shining” immediately caught my ear on “Life Force,” but Vast Aire really hooked me with his absolutely nerd-forward lyrics. As a confessed video game addict, you’re immediately going to pop me by rapping a verse with the lines “I’m at my +Prime+ like +Metroid+” and pairing them with LL Cool J references like “I take a muscle bound man and put his face in the sand.” He’s been this way for at least a quarter of a century, dating back to his days as one half of Cannibal Ox, but on “Aire Raid” he’s embracing his inner nerd and pushing it as far out to the forefront as he can. I mean shit, he’s got a song called “Thunder Cats” that deliberately samples from the cartoon. The track also features Al Babblez & Richie Fx of Scienceninjateam.
That’s where things get a little weird though. Even though I had never heard of the group before this album, Wikipedia claims with no citation that he was both in it AND kicked out of it. If you try to look up this factoid yourself you get nowhere fast because everything directs back to Gatchaman. If I’m being honest with all of you, I stopped caring who SNT was and/or why they allegedly kicked him out at this point, and I moved on to “Time Bandit.” Aire is leaning hard into his underground credentials here.
“White kids say I’m too wordy
black kids say I’m too nerdy, but I’m so worthy
Well — we’re all in the same game
but I’m the illest neutron, watch me flow on
It looks like a pyramid, tetrahedron
Megatron arm, one blast and he’s gone.”
I think that may unfortunately be why “Aire Raid” received a lukewarm reception in 2018. Vast Aire’s flow has always been a challenge to the uninitiated. He has so much to say that instead of rapping fast he slows it DOWWWWWN to what might feel like anemic levels. If you’re not into his pop culture, science fiction, anime and video game references, I can admit there’s a chance you’d find his deliberate pace quite boring. Combine that with the fact he apparently had an acrimonious relationship with SNT and they’re not going to help him promote the album even though they appear on tracks like “Blade Runners” and get shoutouts throughout the presentation.
If I’m being fair Vast Aire’s solo effort here is not his strongest. I’d recommend just about anything else from his catalogue first starting with “OX 2010: A Street Odyssey.” The production doesn’t pack a punch and there aren’t the usual array of indie rap all-stars you’d expect from a Vast Aire release. On the other hand a mediocre Aire release is better lyrically than most rappers on their best day, so you could still rock with “Aire Raid” just for the wordplay. If you’re tired of emcees bragging about how many bodies they’ve got notched on their guns, Vast will be a much needed breath of fresh Aire.