Review Summary: How many synonyms for "strange" can I use?
The Weather, a 2003 collaboration between rappers Busdriver and Radioinactive, with production by Daedelus, is one of the most confounding, yet also one of the best, hip-hop releases of the 21st century. I would consider myself a Busdriver fan, having my first review on this site being his Perfect Hair album (don’t read it). I am not nearly as familiar with Radioinactive, whose Wikipedia page is shorter than this review. Daedelus is a somewhat familiar figure, especially through his being sampled on Madvillain’s deadly cold “Accordion”. However, this album is truly an overlooked gem, seeing as how I had to add it to the Sputnik database. But, I think anyone interested in hip-hop that is strange, technical, absurd, and overtly humorous should check this out.
The main attraction here is Busdriver and Radioinactive themselves. They deftly navigate through verses that are clever, hilarious, and simply baffling. They both are technically proficient, with their flows being impressively speedy, but keeping up a truly unique chemistry. There are several instances where there voices will layer on top of one another, while they’re saying the same thing, and the effect is really something indescribable. They also have a sense of humor which I can almost guarantee you’ve never heard on another hip-hop record. On Weather Locklear, they seem to run out of lyrics for the main vocal hook, so they mumble it out for a few seconds and then Myka 9 replaces it with a thoughtless “*** you, asshole”, as one might do when mindlessly making up lyrics. They set up bewildering concepts for tracks and fully commit to them, except when they don’t, which is also funny in a different way. On “Glorified Hype Man”, they are a broken up boy band venting at each other before a reunion tour is immediately announced. On “Fine for a Robot”, Driver belts out a love song aimed at his desktop. Name Forgetter takes the form of a name game, with some seeming cartoon sample. (Also, if anyone knows any of the samples on this record I would greatly appreciate it. Whosampled.com lacks any information on this album, save the first track). Their finest verses also appear on this song. The song consists mainly of two verses, which are two of the most mystifying yet viscerally satisfying I’ve ever heard. This all goes without mentioning Daedelus’ fantastic production, which ranges from cartoonishly goofy, (Pen’s Oil), to sounding like being inside on a rainy day (Carl Weathers), to a factory level in a PS1 game (DJ Furry), to arriving at an airport on a tropical island, (Weather Locklear).
Of course, this album isn’t without its flaws. The comedy that is external to the music can be a little grating on repeat listens, and the final track “Barely Music” is not ironically named. However, this album is still an experience that I don’t think will ever be replicated, and for that I would consider it to be an absolutely essential listen.
