El-P albums

aka Company Flow, aka Cannibal OX

Some people forget that before Run the Jewels, El-P had a huge underground career. He started Company Flow in the late 90’s, he produced many artists on his DefJux record label including Aesop Rock and Cannibal Ox, and he has had several solo albums - quite the prolific career. Mainly a producer and sound sculptor for these groups, he also has full instrumental companions to almost all of them. I’ve always thought of him of the Brian Eno of Hip Hop and I really think that comparison is apt. It’s just just that they are both among the best at what they do, which they are, but the use of sound effects, synths, and otherworldly noises and futurism is what defines their sounds.

Band Members:

Solo- Real Name Jamie Meline

Company Flow - El-P (MC, producer), Mr. Len (DJ, producer), Bigg Jus (MC)

Cannibal Ox - Vast Aire, Vordul Mega- (Vocals), El-P (Music, Production)

Run the Jewels – El-P and Killer Mike

 

 

Best Album:

Cannibal Ox – The Cold Vein

 

 

Biggest Influences:

De La Soul, Public Enemy, Brian Eno, Gang of Four, Outkast, United States of America, Dj Shadow, Kool Keith, Prince Paul, Kraftwerk

 

 

Albums Chronologically:

Company Flow

1997

Funcrusher Plus – 86%

This album is truly an oddity when it came out in 1997, not only for being weird lyrically or being a mixed race rap group but also for being a long and windy journey that covers a wide range of topics. Most know the origin – Def Jux was the record label of El-P and he also is the main producer, maker of the music, and raps along side Bigg Jus and Mr. Len making in a true rap trio. Where this group stands apart musically is the density of the beats El-P makes- there are always two or three things going on at one time in his music. “Collide” has an addictive easy to follow bass beat, with rapid fire lyrics, and a bouncy guitar jingle as well. “Eight Steps to Perfection” is obsessed with symmetry, topic such as Laura Ingles and octagons, very abstract stuff. The only real person on his out there level I can think of would be Dr. Octagon himself i.e. Kool Keith.

  “Tragedy of War” has fun lyrics about being as high as Kilimanjaro; “the Fire In Which You Burn” has a galloping drum with sitar as accompaniment. “Vital Nerve” contains perhaps the best groove and fits into the mid-90s rap scene a little more than other songs. “Silence” and “Legends” mark this group as influential and unique for sure, the wordplay comes at you so fast and topics are so random you may not realize at first how off the wall they really are. “Definitive” exemplifies this supreme confidence, a nice metal-clang of a beat with El-P owning the track with some straightforward lyrics. There are also plenty of small interludes, but most of them are humorous or short enough not to bother too much- one could argue they are not needed. “Info Kill II” should not be ignored, a nice atmospheric track with lyric about x-men and general paranoia.

It's not a perfectly consistent listen, at over seventy mites of music it would be hard to achieve that, they really just throw everything but the kitchen sink at you idea wise and the album is so dense it is somewhat overwhelming. Once absorbed, I still feel “Lune TNS”, “Help Wanted” and “Krazy Kings” could have all been trimmed with no real loss of cohesion to the record. “Blind”, “Population Control” and “Funcrush Scratch” are pretty decent tunes definitely showing influence of The Bomb Squad production wise. I would say they save the best song of all towards the end: “Last Night Sleep” is a lyrical tale about El-P’s childhood with an abusive stepfather. It’s a harrowing tale, brought to life by a powerful chorus and his calling card- alien background vocals brought to life. And the end of this story the protagonist is not triumphant or insightful, he has been beaten to a virtual pulp and is permanently scared; unfortunately, I can relate to this song and so can many others. It’s deep, its hard to understand at times, but after many listens it is very rewarding. In all Funcrusher Plus is a great listen. As a collection of songs the group wrote over three Years, I understand why the almost 20 song run time had to come out in this way.

 

Best Songs: Last Good Sleep, Vital Nerve, Eight Steps to Perfection, Definitive

1999

Little Johnny From the Hospital – 83%

With this album, all the rapping aspect ceased, and El-P and crew created an all instrumental album. You can call it instrumental Hip Hop, but you could also technically call it post-rock or just instrumental rock music at this point. The lines are blurred when crafting instrumental music that typically goes behind rappers, and this album became one of the touchstones for this emerging mid 90’s genre for sure (Dj Shadow was another pioneer). Reasons behind why there is no rapping/lyrics here and it’s just basically a solo El-P record, you can read elsewhere. There are certain songs that have elements of late-90’s techno around this time like Fatboy Slim or Moby (the moody synths of “World of Garbage”), some that sound like they would fit a Company Flow record (energetic opener “Comp”), and some that incorporate jazz sounds and would fit Trip-hop like Portishead (“Friend vs. Friend”).

“Suzy Pulled a Pistol on Henry” references De La Soul in spirit but sound more in touch with El-P’s psyche of obsession with southern Hip Hop and 80’s manic beats, alien sound effects. “Gigapet Epiphany”, what a title there, owes something to the mechanical and industrial sounds of Kraftwerk or even Foetus. “Blackout” touches on experimental music beats, using the backdrop of warped vocals with a southern accent like that of The Residents; “Number Nine” sounds like it belongs to a soundtrack of a 1950’s musical, nothing about hip hop relates to this at all.  This record is still an hour long, and yes that is quite a bit shorter than their debut but it still could have been trimmed a bit (minor quibble). A couple of distracting moments toward the end of the album, “Happy Happy Joy Kill” ends the album on a unmemorable place, sort of like a weak track from the previous album. While others like the funk influenced “Be Aware” and Shadows Drown” suffer slightly by being over long.  Still, most things here totally work and its more than mere background sounds. El-P has made record that proves he can tackle about any style imaginable and it’s remarkably consistent. Those who put Hip Hop music in a box of unlistenable might be surprised by this album as It shows the world the chasm between Rap and Rock is mostly an invisible line.

 

Sidenote: at the time of this writing (early 2024), the only way buy this record is CD. I don’t believe Vinyl is easy to come by, and it is not on steaming services. Also, **Actually, for every record he touched after this solo or other wise El-P made a sort of Instrumental-only companion record to it.

 

Best Songs: Gigapet Epiphany, Suzy Pulled a Pistol on Henry, Friend vs Friend, World of Garbage

Cannibal Ox

2001

The Cold Vein -  98%

Some albums truly are of their own identity, and this is one of them that stands alone as a diamond in the rough among all hip hop. Music written and produced by El-P, with two rappers Vast Aire and Vordul Mega crafting stories of heartbreak and fantasy surrounding their urban lifestyles. Each song itself is special and each one makes a sort of prism or shell around itself. El-P himself raps on a couple of the tracks, his first real work after the disbandment of Company Flow, and some of these tracks reach that same level of pathos – the yearning of “Ridiculoid” to hope for a better life, coming out of ‘the womb of a phoenix’ or the powerful other worldly voices high pitched to another universe that is “Ox Out the Cage”. I’m not sure it’s easy for the rest of the record to match opener “Iron Galaxy” a winning opening track if there ever was one. The blissful backbeat drifts along like droning mutated keyboards on the road to heaven, while back in forth hammering raps are performed within between the two primary MCs – “Boy meets world of course his pops is gone/ What you figure?/that chalky outline on the ground is your father figure?” It is both harrowing and hopeful sounding at the same time.

 

“Atoms” shows off the true power of rap music in the abstract with lines like “Were all form the same mold, spores and bacteria!” as Vast Aire and Mega switch lines back and forth in a hardcore fashion; it is a great song to turn up loud. “Raspberry Fields” contains the best minute and a half intro on the record, all psychedelic in pure sounds like an alien spaceship beaming you up with optimistic lyrics about stepping up to the mic and keep trying. “A B-Boys Alpha” tells what it was like for Vast Aire coming up in life and his inspiration, while “Vein” belongs to Mega as he trips over himself purposefully over the galloping beats. “The F Word” is a heartfelt ballad about being stuck in the friend zone with someone you like, very relatable and universal- talk about a song that should have been a worldwide sensation. “Stress Rap” has the most chill beat on the album, one that goes on about five minutes but truly never gets old, the rapping over the sonic perfection is a just a joy to behold. The first nine songs especially, one could argue makes as great a run of songs that no other hip hop album has ever bested. That would be “Iron Galaxy” through “Stress Rap”.

The album takes a breather of sorts after this onslaught of perfection with “Battle for Asgard” upping the quotient for dorkiness but sort of proving prophetic in the long run as Marvel Comics movie topics became more and more common in the following decade- this song has a laid-back flow to it, delving into different tempos and sort of having a feeling of a three act play. “Real Earth” continues the trend of consistent spaced out space race topics, perhaps both of these songs are too long but really on any other record they would still be high points. “Painkiller” is their version of a ballad for sure, slow and plodding but the topic of drugs ruling your life but also pointing out ‘true happiness comes from within’. “Pigeon” is the most lyrically complex song, many comparisons of different types of birds to different types of people and earning its six-minute run time. “Scream Phoenix” is the heavenly closer the group nails, everything feels ethereal and light as talk of resurrection is presented once more.

  There are so many moments to behold on the record that are memorable it would take days to list them all. The journey of Cannibal Ox sums up how you can create a magical balance of lyrical perfection and sonic adventures. The lyrics have been worked on and perfected over years of attempting them. The music reminds us of the best rock music production like Brian Eno or Mark Kramer might produce meets the best hip hop producers (Prince Paul, Bomb Squad, Dust Brothers) and funk music masters (Geroge Clinton, Sly Stone)- in all quite the hybrid. It marks El-P as one of the most interesting and creative rap producers and album crafters, to think it was an independent label production makes The Cold Vein one of the most important musical artifacts of the beginning of the 21st century. It presents a new vanguard for what hip hop music can do.

 

Best Songs: Iron Galaxy, Atoms, Painkillers, F Word, Raspberry Fields, Scream Phoenix

El-P solo

2002

Fantastic Damage – 77%

The first solo El-P proper, but in reality his 4th musical album creation after the two Company Flow records and the sublime Cannibal Ox The Cold Vein. It’s funny, because this SOUNDS more like a continuation of the first Company Flow record rather than a follow up to Cannibal Ox’s made the previous year. It has a mix on it where it is sometimes hard to separate lyrics from music, it all kind of meshes together and is not clear; this being the case I would not recommend this as the first El-P experience. When it works it is truly amazing as only El-P can be with his aggressive musical sound-effect style: “Tuned Mass Damner” has a nice beat and is catchy enough to be separate from the three songs prior; “Accidents Don’t Happen” has a pulse underlying that at times branches out and controls where the song goes, at times it borders on noise rock; “Laserfaces’ Warning“ has the most distinct verse and chorus that stand out and rock the house; “Dr Hellno and the Praying Mantus” is one of the most insane songs he has let lose with Vast Aire guesting and bringing some much needed clarity; “Constellation Funk” stands out with those lovely alien visitor noises and another angry rant striking a personal chord about his stepfather- diito for “Stepfather Factory” a more open wound then a song proper.

Many songs here are what I would call passable, but not up to El-P’s understandably very high standards. The title track and minor hit single “Deep Space Nine” are BUSY and can be sort of distracting to find the song underneath all the mess. “Dead Disnee” betrays an obsession with Chuck D/ Public Enemy, whether purposeful or not it’s a bit on the nose. “Delorian” has a nice guest spot from Aesop Rock, a frequent collaborator and fellow rapper on El-P’s Def Jux label, but the song changes in the middle and kind of falls apart. “The Nang” is like four songs in one, which is an interesting idea for sure but seems sort of transitional. Unlike most records, I find the second half to be vastly stronger than the first one, except the “T.O.J.” which is the only really bad song I’ve heard El-P make. At 16 songs and 70 minutes it is far too long, but for those willing to dig through there are plenty of treasures within. I’m not sure El-P has ever released a subpar product, but if I had to pick a least favorite record of his entire career it’s probably this one.

 

Best Songs: Laserfaces’ Warning, Constellation Funk, Dr Hellno and the Praying Mantus, Accidents Don’t Happen

2007

I’LL SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD – 90%

El-P is back after a five year absence, ready to be in complete control of his sound this time around. Taking everything he has learned before, he has surely made his most ‘complete’ solo record to date with a dense atmosphere and dark ambience all his own. This is made obvious by the opener “Tasmanian Pain Coaster”, one of his longest songs that combines a storytelling aspect that he is underrated for (guest staring the Mars Volta) bringing a progressive rock aspect full front. The closer is in the same vein “Poisenville Kids No Wins/Reprise” but maybe even more successful sense it adds a psychedelic quality and a calm guest spot with Cat Power. Big on the guest stars this time around, they never threaten to overwhelm but tend to add to the effects, best of all being the merging of Trent Reznor/ Nine Inch Nails to “Flyentology”, one of the best songs El-P ever created. This song contains multitudes for sure, a creative way to talk about religion, cowardice, arrogance in our society while containing the best chorus of his career to date.

               A lot of the album feels like a collection of singles: “Up All Night”, “Drive” and especially “Run the Numbers” feel like a menagerie of pop ready rap songs full of film samples (Kill Bill in the later) and layers of sound effects. “No Kings” is brains plus a lot of brawn, a powerhouse rocking tune. “Smithereens” has a lot going on – vocals spanning octave ranges, a chant that sounds exuberant in nature but is covered in sorrow; all of hip hop could learn something from these kinds of abstract but powerful productions. El-P’s rapping has come along way too, a sort of back n forth overlapping that keeps things sounding clear and rapid fire. Deeper observations are found on the pretty personal lyrics on “EMG” with the author ditching his past behind, “The Overly Dramatic Truth” which begins El-P’s pattern of overly familiar love songs, so it is very love it or hate it (I love it). “Habeous Corpus” is a kind of song drowning in sorrow in the production of it, theatrical even. Only “The League of Extraordinary Nobodies” falters and even it is not too bad. That’s the thing about this record: it is triumphant in its lyrical content but everything about the sound effects is covered in the grunge haze of the 1990s. It makes for a futuristic but devastating sort of listen, but the production has never been so crystal clear and the songs never so laser focused in their intents before.

 

Best Songs: Flyentology, Run the Numbers, No Kings, Drive

2012

CANCER FOR CURE – 86%

             Yet another five years between albums, this album comes as a sort of rebirth as well. The production is more and more mechanical sounding and perfected, sort of like Brian Eno when he made Before and After Science (1977). Cancer 4 Cure will probably forever be seen as a precursor to Run the Jewels as it even has Killer Mike a guest rapper a couple of times, most notably on "Tougher, Colder, Killer" where he also trades verse with Despot in a blistering back in forth triad starting at the minute and a half mark .The album as a whole feels very deserted and desolate, like rap that comes at you from Antarctica.

There are many times that El-P's raps come flying at you like nothing else he has done before: "The Jig is Up" features a plethora of self-hate and loathing, crying I’d never wanna be a part of any club that would have me’ a la Groucho Marx; "Works Every Time" channeling Interpol with a Paul Banks feature in the chorus and the alien/A.I. invasion warnings of "Drones Over Brooklyn" which could almost be an arena rock anthem; "True Story" with its De La Soul quoting ‘Oodles and O’s’ and the soul heavy chorus of "Stay Down" could have been killer singles in El-P wasn't so independently minded. “Sign Here” is the oddball love song of the record, love it or hate it with its on dominance/submission qualities. “The Full Retard” describes is commitment to his craft- however, it is that independent mindset that fuels the albums manifestos; the hard-hitting truth could only come from someone who has been there and done it all.

Only sometimes are there songs that don’t work and weirdly it’s the first and last songs that just like the last album they are epic in length compared to everything else: “4 Dollar Vic/Nothing but Me and You” (eight minutes) which meanders far too long in underwater type effects, and “Request Denied” which is mostly instrumental techno that can be totally misleading if you had never heard El-P up to this point. Maybe not quite as coherent as the album before but still full of wonderous songs and above all- wonderous sound effects. And to think, Jamie Maline was on the verge of re-inventing himself yet again the next year….

Best Tracks: Stay Down, Drones Over Brooklyn, The Jig is Up, Tough Colder Killer