Esham
KKKill the Fetus

3.0
good

Review

by JustMightBeOK USER (1 Reviews)
August 9th, 2008 | 29 replies

Release Date: 1993 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Very artistic, but also very dark and difficult to listen to.

Run from the gun, if I do ya then you're done,
If it didn't do ya done, sawed off shotgun.
Radio *** 'em, 'cause I said *** 'em,
If I see the DJ, buck, buck, buck 'em.

Darkness in hip-hop can come in a number of forms. It can come in the humorous form - as exemplified by Dr. Octagon or Eminem - or just flat-out dark, as exemplified by Esham, the originator of the acid rap genre which has influenced a multitude of artists within and outside Detroit - the aforementioned Eminem once called himself a cross between Esham, Ozzy Osbourne and Charles Manson. KKKill the Fetus is a seriously dark and twisted album - 25 songs, many of them short - each trippy and hallucinogenic looks into the darkest elements of man's soul; raps focus on subjects from pornographic sex to Satan, Hell and serial killing. You could call this a heavy metal album with rapped lyrics and beats; it's certainly more "metal" than Korn.

KKKill the Fetus's opening track asks us what do we define as evil? Is it learned, or are we evil at birth? The character in "Symptoms of Insanity" and "Running from Me" may bring believers of the former to question their ideology: "Six, six, six, 'cause I'm sick sick sicka" (this line was stolen by Flatlinerz on their album Under Satan's Authority). "Voices in My Head" focuses on a man who goes crazy and chops up his wife and kids. When he calls up a suicide hotline, they hang up on him, so he decides to off himself. On "No Singing", Esham advises not to sing at his funeral, because he hates sad songs. Another character popping up in Esham's vision of Hell is Jackie, described thusly:

I know a bitch, who like to suck dick drink nut
That type a bitch, that type a slut
Her name is Jackie, the ho is kinda tacky
Went to suckin and ***in
She'll off her panties in the backseat of a taxi
I said lady cab driver, lady cadiver
No one does it better make it wetter and I've never
Met a freak like you ***in like a prostitute
But your specialty is suckin D-I-C-K

"Game of Death" and "Headache" are about multiple personalities and insanity. "Wet Day Dreamer" is about a surreal imagined encounter with a pair of lesbians who want to get down with Esham's character:

I met this young ho, I tried to get up on the coochie
I payed her no mind, cuz she was just another hoochie
I treated her kind, but she gave no play
I played with her mind, but I dogged her anyway
She tole she would fuck me and she ran the plays
She tole she would suck my dick fifty ways
Well everytime I grabbed the ho and asked fo some ass
She would run the same story that she ran the last
I'm like damn, she said damn, I said what's up on the butt
All I wanted was a quicky just to catch a nut
But in some way I was blind, there's somthing I couldnt see
That the bitch was a dike, she got more pussy then me
Masturbating in her home all alone with a broom
All I wanna do is zoom-a-zoom, zoom, zoom
She had a girl friend that came by her place
Got pookie butt naked, put her pussy in my face
As I sat back and watched to ho's eating cunts
The room started smellin like female funk
Pussy cat's with a dog, just rubbin my dick
One licked it up and down and one blew on it
I'm like damn, I got a tingle so I bust a funky jingle
I said, "My dick is single but it loves to mingle"
So I fucked and I fucked and I fucked till I caught my nut
And then I woke up.

"Hot Booty" continues this theme. "I thought You Knew" has Esham telling a friend that he ***ed his woman. "If This Ain't Hell" and "My Understanding is Zero" are commentaries on the world around us, while "Perpetration" condemns fakeness in rap. While KKKill the Fetus is very creative and in its raps and beats -- which sample everything from Beastie Boys and Funkadelic to Jimi Hendrix and Queen. "Helterskkkelter" features a lean bassline, freaky scratches and hard-hitting beats. But a great deal of the album is very dark and disturbing, which, for me, makes it very difficult to listen to. "666" is, quite frankly, terrifying:

The black devil's back and gotta step into the mix
The brand new rhymes and the 6 6 6
I shipwreck shit, shit gets wrecked
When I hit the set what the fuck you expect?
PO be a motherfuckin' but a two timin' bitch
I'm not a crossover, don't plan to switch
I rob the rhythm like I was a witch
Nine dead bodies throw 'em in the ditch
You wanna try me out to come and test my style
I'll cut 'cha head off and throw it in the pile
I'm versatile, the voodoo child
Don't sweat the technique, but peep the tech style
Gettin' wicked 'cause I'm raisin' hell
Doin' just as well to bust a brain cell
The unholy, shup, man
6 6 6 and a mic in my hand

A very loud and noisy backing track accompanies Esham screaming his lyrics, referring to himself, as he does throughout the rest of the album, as "The Black Devil". (Esham has also been known as "The Boogieman" and "Black Hitler".) "Headhunter" and "KKKill the Fetus" are equally dark, but not nearly as loud. I hate to give this album three stars - it is definitely not an average album, but at the same time, I'm not really sure I can listen to this album. I'm sure that a lot of people like this album, and certainly if you're a metal fan who also enjoys hip-hop, I recommend it, and it certainly has a lot more to say than most "horrorcore" albums, and I even found a few tracks to be very enjoyable. But I'm certainly not going to be pulling this one out at dinner parties.

I personally preferred Insane Poetry's Grim Reality, which contains a side of socially-conscious hip-hop to compliment and expand upon the "grim" themes of its first side. Had Esham formed his album this way, I might have enjoyed this more. That being said, KKKill the Fetus is an excellent release, and it clearly seems to be the inspiration for many rap artists. Kool Keith seems to have been inspired by Esham, for instance, but uses acid rap in a much less dark form, and ends up being more enjoyable. KKKill the Fetus is not a bad album, it's just not for me.

Standout tracks: "No Singing," "Hot Booty," "I Thought You Knew," "if This Ain't Hell," "My Understanding Is Zero," "Perpetration," "Freak Nasty," "Don't Blame Me!" "You Still Hoe'N,' "Sunshine," and "Get On Down".

user ratings (112)