Mix: Out There

I hesitate to label this elusive subgenre with the “outsider” descriptor, because I’d bet that most, if not all, of these artists are extremely well-versed in the very conventions they subvert. Some I’d call “deconstructed,” others “detached,” a few “disconcerting.” But all of them transpose the key components of hip-hop music into an approach much more abstract and textural, without ever leaving the beat behind completely.

Model Home (photo by Christopher Grady)

00:00. Model Home – “Night Breaks” from Both Feet En Th Infinite (Don Giovanni, 2021)

05:30. Zeroh – “Saddlelight” from awfulalterations (self-released, 2011)

08:06. al.divino – “Abu Simbel” from Monumentality (self-released, 2018)

10:31. MC Trachiotomy – “ANOTHER Cigarette” from Robot Alien or Ghost (Skin Graft, 1998)

12:36. 9$ – “Honest Expression” from Court Side Demo (County Tapes, 2020)

15:42. Davis – “Salu Henbane” from Davis (Leaving, 2016)

18:36. Sensational & Kouhei Matsunaga – “417” from Sensational Meets Koyxeи (Skam, 2010)

21:43. Jurmainson – “Eye Twitch” from Boom! (self-released, 2021)

23:31. Coin Locker Kid – “Where the Angels Lie in Wait” from Traumnouvelle (self-released, 2012)

27:44. The Koreatown Oddity – “The Gov Got $$$” from No Health Insurance (self-released, 2013)

30:21. Earl Sweatshirt – Solace [excerpt] (self-released, 2015)

33:36. Pacific Yew – “(((( magazine ))))” from Lamest Days (Hot Record, 2017)