Review Summary: Unkle Adams shows his true colors
If you’re an avid follower of the underground hip hop scene, there’s a good chance that by now you’re aware of Curtis “Unkle” Adams. Widely acclaimed by listeners and critics despite his relatively small fanbase and exposure, Unk is renowned for his lightning fast flow, lyrics that focus on the faults of society and personal well-being and his cheery demeanour. This would change when Unk gunned down 12 people before turning the gun on himself in early 2018. This album was discovered on his hard drive and was labelled ‘final message’ before being leaked online and dubbed ‘Planting Seeds’ by fans due to a sketch found in the same folder. It’s an album vastly different to his early works which focus on self betterment and peace and understanding and many believe this album showcased his true feelings. Let’s take a look.
Throughout the album, Unk covers a variety of topics near and dear to him. The opener ‘Family’ discusses his love for his family and all those who support him and help him, as he considers them to be family too. What’s interesting to note is the hook.
“Love holds us together”.
The way Unk raps this line however is a perfect piece of wordplay, sounding more like ‘Love Hoes’, possibly a reference to his past as a drug smuggler for the Mexican Cartel. The next track ‘Airborne’ details Adams’ violent hatred for the Middle East, with lyrics referring drone strikes and massacres committed by American soldiers in a positive light. Unk seems to praise the actions of war criminals in the song, such as the lines
“I wear the names of the accused on my chest, no shame/I pray for the heroes who worked at Abu Ghraib” and the equally infamous “Haditha, Don’t Believe/Hamdania, I don’t mind ya” The extremely dark and confrontational lyrics of this song can be very off putting for many, though as Adams’ is a vocal supporter of free speech, these lines can be seen as directly and intentionally confrontational or Unk’s actual beliefs. ‘The 90s’ discusses Unk’s love for the titular decade when he grew up Including references to Tamagotchi, Kurt Cobain’s suicide, Windows 95 and the Columbine massacre and his desire for things to return to that period where “liberals didn’t rule the world and minorities were always seen and never heard”. Again, the lines are extremely unorthodox and questionable, though they directly fit Unk’s brutal and offensive style.
The album’s standout track is definitely ‘Nathan’. A dark and unflinching track about a young boy, bullied for his skin pigmentation. The production harkens back to Eminem’s ‘Kim’ with a heavy drum beat and Adams’ telling the harrowing tale of a boy bullied for his skin pigmentation who commits a school shooting. After the story ends however, Unk continues to rap and begins to praise various shooters of the past decades including Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, Elliot Rodger and James Holmes. Interestingly, if you slow the song down an audio recording of Adams’ reading the infamous fourteen words can be audibly heard. ‘Nathan’ is the song that got Unk recognised and the notorious outro is often sited by fans as his finest moment.
Overall, Planting Seeds is a dark, unflinching album from a man far gone from sanity. The corrupted beats and violent and chaotic production bounce extremely well off the frequently offensive and horrific lyrical content. I do not agree with the statements Adams’ makes at all in this album and I heavily condemn them, but it’s a record that needs to be heard to understand why Adams’ did what he did when he murdered those 12 people. This was his manifesto, an extremely harrowing and uncomfortable suicide note. Wherever Unk is now, he certainly
Got his message out there
