LISTEN: Slug Christ’s The Crucifixion of Rapper Extraordinaire, Slug Christ
Awful Records spawned the sadly now OVO-ed ILoveMakonnen, but the Father-headed label has no shortage of ATL weirdos in their current roster (with Father being an oddball himself). Chief of these weirdos being the only white dude there, Slug Christ, whose image expectedly references white trash stereotypes. However, much like the rest of his peers, his music appropriates ig’nant swagged out rap à la Soulja Boy and Young Thug while imbuing it with a heavy dose of suburban tropes; it’s goth-y, suicidal, anti-organised religion via faux-Satanism, and steeped in irony. At least half of that could be surmised just from reading the title of his recently dropped first full-length record, The Crucifixion of Rapper Extraordinaire, Slug Christ. Admittedly, half the time our fascination with Slug is superficial — he’s not exactly what you’d deem a competent rapper, even by ironic rap standards. The accusations thrown at Tumblr-born rap collectives like SADBOYS and TeamSESH — that their music are made with little to no effort — actually make sense with Slug; he does sound like he doesn’t give a shit.
Crucifixion, however, is a different beast in its execution. The conceptual nature of Slug Christ (he is evidently self-serious in interviews) previewed on solo EPs Iglesia: Olde Testament and I Feel the Sadness in My Legs and The Happy in My Head has finally grown into an organic thing — it’s not just an image anymore, he’s fully dedicated to it. And it helps that Slug doesn’t sound like he recorded most of his verses after a single take, over some of the best production he ever worked on to boot.
Stream the album below:
More from Awful Records here.