To really understand the music that Vancouver rapper Madchild creates, one has to take in the full extent of his character. This man is 4'11 and covered in tattoos with blonde hair, blue eyes, and one hell of a crazy stare. Add in everything that you hear in his music, be it previous solo efforts or his discography with the group Swollen Members, and you get a cartoonish, squeaky-voiced, drugged-up, perverted lunatic. Comparable to Cage in a lot of ways, except Madchild is more reliant on his dark sense of humor, and generally a little more exaggerated and silly in his insanity. While this may seem like a cheap gimmick to some, and it's true that this concept is a tad trite, Madchild has perfected it at this point in his career. He's no rookie, and it shows from the production that he picked to the way he delivers his lines and uses his unorthodox voice to his advantage. His newest EP,
Switched On, is the finest display of Madchild just being himself that we could have asked for.
There's a certain authenticity in Madchild's music that separates him from a great deal of rappers that take the "mentally disturbed" route, even though it's clear that listeners shouldn't take it 100% seriously. He's remained so consistent with this crude persona of his that it's hard to tell whether he's actually insane or not. Songs like "Broken Mirror" where he gets a little more personal make it damn near impossible to distinguish. Regardless, it certainly doesn't come across as forced in the music. His raspy, high-pitched voice is the main reason for this; it has an almost theatric quality to it, because not only is it so unique but he's also got a great deal of charisma and such perfect delivery. He makes himself sound just as sadistic and scatterbrained as his lyrics would suggest. The tracks "Act my Age" and "Out of My Head" are the best examples of this.
As far as lyrics go, Madchild is a bit too immature and "out-there" to be considered a lyrical rapper, to say the least. However, he absolutely knows how to hold a listener's attention through his presence on a track and ridiculous subject matter. He uses a lot violent and sexual imagery, drug references, self-deprecation and generally dark humor and subjects. Take this line from the chorus of "White Knuckles":
"Addictive personality, destructive, give me more pain
Laughing while destroying, I'm the Joker wearing war paint
With a scorpion on my thumb
I just want to get some head, taking opiates till I'm numb"
That sums it all up. He's a genuinely talented rapper as far as technical skill goes as well, but that's often overlooked in favor of the song's ludicrous lyrics and schizophrenic atmosphere. Madchild knows what he's good at and what he sounds good doing, which is partly due to his production. Mostly comprising of almost cartoonish sounding , bouncy production with a bit of a dark twist, such as the song "Out of My Head", sometimes becoming just flat-out dark, like the song "Drugs In My Pocket"...it all just fits his persona perfectly.
As far as I'm concerned, Madchild has nothing left to prove. He's a master of his style, and
Switched On is nothing but further proof that he has not and will not fall off any time soon. He certainly hasn't toned it down much if at all in comparison to past projects. I truly don't believe he tries to be anything he isn't, especially after hearing all the references to his own life in this record, like how he often pokes fun an incident in which he was unable to get into the United States due to an alleged Hells Angels affiliation. That being said, he is 42 at the time of this EP's release, so one must wonder how long he can make a career out of insane ramblings and sexual exploits. His intentions of not growing up are clear after hearing
Switched On, but I can't help but think an artist like Madchild is only better off that way.
