The world sucks. We are all going to die. We are sheep, we never think for ourselves. BLAH. We have all heard this before, and it has become trite, boring, banal, common place even, (Lady Redundant Woman has taken over typing apparently.) But every so often, someone presents this information to you in a different matter or we see something that confirms what we thought was just the talk of a crazy few. Well, ladies and gentlemen, Louis Mackey and ThirtySeven are here to provide you with that different perspective, to show you the light (or the dark) and attempt to open your eyes to what is going on around you as they come down from their planet and give us this knowledge. That is the basic just of "No Humans Allowed," but instead of some Hunter S. Thompson want to be describing it to you, it is constructed by two incredibly talented MCs whose vocabulary will make you feel like a 3rd grader reading "Finnegan's Wake." But perhaps I am rambling a bit too much and going into the extreme nerd zone so let me stop and get the album, here it goes.
Normally when a track is called "Intro" (or "Outro" for that matter) it is very brief and acts simple as a way to get acquainted with the album and artist. On some rare occasions the track is something much more, yes it does introduce you to the album but it says something and is integral to the piece as a whole. That is the case with "Intro" on "No Humans Allowed." The track begins with some faded and distorted keyboards with drums, a very relaxed beat, that brings to mind the early morning, just before the sun comes up, that calm before all the craziness happens. Louis Mackey kicks off the album with a great display of his talent while offering a glimpse into the concept of the album
it’s early in the morning before the city’s awake
I’m busy forging the words that can get me to grace
no slippery slopes or apologetic diatribes
I’ll die tonight if you find a lie in this entire rhyme
I got Leviathan in my eyes again, doing it now
a beautiful sound, no motherfucking humans allowed
the earth looks pretty from here, as I’m eyein our chances
the cities appear on the dark side of the planet
Not to be outdone, Thirtyseven comes back with a much more graphic and horrorfilled verse
five oclock in the morning, somehow I’m still awake
these are not rhymes, these are thought crimes in fifty states
the cops showed, we chill and wait, got stoned and still escaped
run for blocks, buzzing off the blood in Bob Dylan’s veins
...see, I always figured that I’d probably die
before I ever became a sane and responsible guy
so I try the meet and greet but I can never relate
because to me you’re venison steaks doing impressions of apes
Now don't think this is going to be the pattern, Mackey has a more introspective, thought provoking verse, then Thirtyseven decides to bring violence and gore painting gruesome pictures. That is certainly not the case, but it does let you know there is certainly a difference between the two MCs, this is just an exaggerated example.
Sparse guitar chords occupy the beat of "Not of This Earth" where both Mackey and Thirtyseven go after the state of popular rap and the "mainstream rapper with a catchy line." While tracks like this are done often, what seperates this from the rest is how both MCs go about it. Instead of doing the "you are ruining hip hop and I am here to save it" angle, they decide instead to say fuck it, if that's what the public wants take it, we will do what we do. As Mackey puts it "this beat is just a reason to be breathing demons up, til I’m seeing leaking guts, steeping in sea of blood," ie this is his release, his art. Thirtyseven tries to bite his tongue but cannot "most of your flows are weak, and yet most of the shit I've said is straight over my critic's heads, I'm larger than life, the poverty nights with ramen and rice, then walk in tonight and Viking slaughter the mic" a great line for all MCs who are fighting to make it.
The beat for "Ungern-Sternberg" is a haunting bass guitar and rhythm guitar duet mixed with a choir like vocal snippet, it may not sound like a lot, but it doesn't need to be, it sets the scene perfectly for ThirtySeven's and Mackey's rhymes. This is the closest thing you will hear to a battle record from either MC. Each one kicks off their first verse addressing the concept, whether it is ThirtySeven "does thirtyseven still battle? probably not... if I gotta prove shit to you kids, I’ve already lost" or Mackey, "Does Lou Mackey talk shit with every breathe that he’s got ? Bet I’ve tested my weapon from Texas to Prague" you can see what they think about doing a battle. And just for fun the two both decide to address full frontal nudity. "I’ll book your home town, do a bunch of frontal nudity, and have you whole fan base running home to google me," spits ThirtySeven, only to have Mackey come back with "with whatever fuck-endeavor, convenient store attempt to get audience, and frontal nudity is nothing to new to me." But to my favorite lines come from ThirtySeven's second verse "can you poodles get the point of NO HUMANS ALLOWED? ...future mutant music for the few and the proud? ...of course you Normals are snooping around."
The saxophone that introduces "Death of You" feels like it could go into any film noire detective story, mix in a little drums and you have the chilled out music for this scything track where both Mackey and ThirtySeven go after those who allow themselves to become slaves to the money and those who become corrupt in that pursuit. But do not worry, those who stand by idlely and do nothing are also targets, because lets be honest, they are just as much to blame.
While the instrumentation of "Child of the 90s" is rather upbeat with the guitar and horns (plus a little vocals from the Godfather of Soul) the duo stays on task of taking down all the flaws of humanity. This time the target are all those who said they would never give in to "the man" and what never work in the system, but in the end when push comes to shove become just like all those who they use to speak up against. But it is more than that, it is those who masquerade as still standing up for the "little people" but are in fact cogs in the machine. Whether it is ThirtySeven who points out the hypocrisies and tries to figure out why this is happening, "crazy what can brew inside a human mind, but who am I to judge another's man stupid lies?" or Mackey who has decided he has had enough "...child of the 90s, before those beliefs had died, that piece of my life tried to eat me alive, the demon that thrived then is still sleeping inside keep speaking your mind, he’ll be easy to find."
A subtle piano, gaining strength along with some sparse horns and a vocal sample kick off "All Anxieties Tranquilized," the building tension comes to an apex as ThirtySeven begins his verse
History is nothing but an ad for being white
so I piss on your assumptions and your cracker Jesus Christ
yeah, hi folks...whats up, I like to rhyme yo
and leave your mind blown through your slave labor iPhones
stop bitching cuz they’re giving you prescription drugs
you don’t have a condition, chump, you’ve just given up
With these lines ThirtySeven is able to upset 90 percent of the population and finishes off the other 10 percent in the rest of his verse. But whether him getting under your skin is the point, (and in reality the point of the whole album) to get the listener to actually think for themselves, crazy idea I know. But even people who claim they do this, sometimes forget and fall into the safety of the group. Louis Mackey continues the onslaught with his verse “
experts” flock at speaking functions to sit and talk
while the preacher and priest are running to the liquor spot
living stops when the numbers on the ticker drop
seems your fickle God has gone and took a trip abroad
I shall not lie, the first time I saw the title "Big Ups from Carbondale" my first thought was, "oh shit, they are going to do a song about Carbondale, PA." I was obviously very, very wrong; their idea was much more interesting. Carbondale is their name for the rap industry, i.e. Carbon copies, much better than a song about a small town near Scranton. But I digress, let me get back to the song. The horn, drums and keys automatically get your head nodding, making you think they might be doing a more positive upbeat track (of course you are wrong) and you find out just how wrong very quickly. "We keep it too loud to fucking pretend there’s any way to safely fake a conversation with your dumb as shit friends," this is how ThirtySeven kicks off the track. There is one thing different about this song than any other on the album. The number of verse, 7, which is 3 more than any other song. Why does this matter you may ask. Well, it is rather simple, they continue to mock the copy cat/ dumbed down industry by creating shorter verses because that is all today's rap fans can memorize and all that the "top" rappers can do. Maybe I am reading too much into that, but I do not think so.
The album closes out with "Good Night, America," the background is set by just a view strings with some drums to hit. Rarely do albums realize the perfect song to end with, luckily, "No Humans Allowed" nailed it. By far the most apocalyptic and final song on the project, it sums up how Louis Mackey and ThirtySeven view the country and in fact the world. Whether it is on the discussion of euthanasia, ignoring the homeless, or as they both finish off their verse, with ThirtySeven
won’t matter when we’ve lost our heat and crops are freezing
won’t matter when you’ve gotta keep your Mom from screaming
cuz she’s watching zombies feeding off her daughter’s body pieces
or Mackey
...swim with sharks, dance with the angels
and I’ve made it far to see the ease with which
...saints get shot and thieves get rich
these certainly capture the thought and feel of the album.
Now that you have a basic concept of the album (hopefully a bit more than basic, at least that is what I aim for) you will see just what Mackey and ThirtySeven have done with "No Humans Allowed." That is of course, besides create a duo that this reviewer hopes to hear much more from, but they have crafted a focused album that attempts to instruct the listeners, while also insulting them a bit (but sometimes that is how we need to learn) about what is wrong with society and ourselves as humans. If we do not straighten up, quickly, this world will turn to the picture created in "Good Night, America," a dismal, disease ridden, wasteland (but without Pip Boys). So let us take a good look in the mirror and fix this place before it is too late. Unless you like the world the album paints which if that is the case, well, we are all fucked.
You can stream and download the album here.
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