Review Summary: A classy and tasteful album from a founding father of horrorcore.
2 of 3 thought this review was well writtenBrotha Lynch Hung has been a driving force in the development of the Southen rap scene and horrorcore for the past twenty years. His full length début and genre-defining masterpiece
Season Of Da Siccness remains an indisputable classic for both horrorcore and underground hip-hop as a whole. Although he maintained a steady discography following
Season..., it grew weaker and weaker with each release. This pace was changed when he was picked up by Strange Music (Tech N9ne) in early 2009.
Dinner And A Movie was his first release on the label and, more notably, his best record of the decade. With a concept that focuses on a serial-killer in the ghetto and the police's attempts to track him down, the album covers the first of three segments. With this idea, Lynch crafts a truely macabre experience.
Lynch's flow in this album is slower than fans of his previous work may know him for. Yet his skill-full cutting up of lines and his varied ways of emphasis keep the songs kicking as they go by. As far as subject matter goes, it is, as always in horrorcore, cringe-inducing. While his contemporaries often fall into a pit of self-satire, Lynch is distinguishable with his seriously disturbed but very much sober rhyming. Where ICP and Necro fall victim to humour or being far too over the top, Lynch remains a compelling, and strangely believable, tour guide through his carnival of terror. The lines spat mix the rapper's reality with violent over-the-top perversion, resulting in some of the most disturbed lyrics you will hear in rap. Songs like “Meat” and “I Tried To Commit Suicide” serve as extreme ghetto-confessionals. The former speaks of not being able to provide for his son, and the latter speaks of his mother dying, his life aspirations, and putting a gun to his head. This type of subject matter is scattered throughout the album amidst the gruesome violence and debauchery. This results in a somewhat surreal experience. Lynch creates a blood-dripping, sin-filled atmosphere and storyline, as well as one that is immersive. The listener wonders more and more where fiction and fact meet as the album progresses, if only until it ends and they are brought back to reality.
The production is handled partially by Lynch, as well as by a couple of Strange Music's household producers, most notably Seven. The beats are phenomenal and they keep the album moving even during the longer songs. This is an impressive feat, considering that the album in its conceptual entirety (rife with skits) is nearly eighty-minutes long. The mood created in this time is one that is deep,eerie, and filled with thumping bass. The album also benefits from its extensive showcasing of guest rappers. It features some of Lynch's long-time collaborators such as TallCann G and First Degree The DE, as well as big names like Snoop Dogg and Tech N9ne. All the rappers add their unique flow and their own takes on the crimes as the album pushes forward.
This is not an album for the weak of heart, and certainly not one that should be listened to for an attempt at intellectual or emotional gain. However, this album makes for one hell of a journey into a world of revulsion, and makes it a rhythmic, head-bopping ordeal. If cannibalistic diatribes ever serve to prove superiority, then Brotha Lynch Hung will most certainly be king.
