Review Summary: Watch 'em run it
Bravado can be both a blessing and a curse, and Daveed Diggs has that kind of charisma in spades. From a starring role in the smash hit stage production of
Hamilton and bit parts in commercials and
Law & Order: SVU, it’s pleasantly surprising that Diggs’ heart still lies with spooky hip-hop group clipping. 5 years on from their massive quadruple-album
There Existed An Addiction To Blood and
Visions of Bodies Being Burned, it’s hard to envision exactly what the trio would have waiting in the wings to follow up such an endeavor.
And
Dead Channel Sky delivers, well…as expected, for better or worse. Across 20 tracks and almost a full hour, the album is filled with tasteful features and production so crisp it sizzles. It’s tradition for the album intro to be Diggs rapping fast before introducing the album proper with “It’s clipping, bitch,” but from that point on it becomes more a vessel for Diggs himself than anything else. Coming in blazing with “Dominator” Diggs spews half the dictionary over the hook “I’m the one and only–dominator.” and from there the speed doesn’t let up, as Diggs preaches his way through industrial beat after blaring industrial beat, each sounding like a street race through downtown LA at midnight, all crunching mechanics and electronic chimes.
The question becomes when is enough too much? On the face of it there’s nothing offensive about
Dead Channel Sky; it’s a reasonable follow-up to the double records and is a slick skill showcase from top to bottom, both from Diggs and every set of hands in the production pot. The problem arises after a glut of this type of material, this feels like a glut of B-sides more than a progressive new record. Diggs’ speed is always meticulous, and the breakcore-like beats backing him are as well, but it feels a bit like taking too many of the good drugs at once: a whirlwind of things that feel like fun, but nothing solid to grasp onto. The interludes are so glitched out as to be nearly unintelligible, all noisy samples and wet sounds of decaying synthesizers. The clunky “Dodger” sees Diggs lurching out “Kill that ***” in a song about a futuristic humanity-destroying virus. It’s all very dramatic, in a maudlin way that at this point feels overwrought. There’s only so much existential and body horror you can take from a man who was in a DoorDash commercial with Big Bird.
The B-side feeling continues towards the latter half of the record, as the big blasters fade into more inane interludes and slowed tracks where Diggs doesn’t flourish as well. In several spots you’d be forgiven for feeling tracks and flows are uncomfortably close to those on
VOBBB and
TEAATB. On penultimate track “Welcome Home Warrior” featured artist Aesop Rock schools Diggs in how to spin a spool at midtempo, making Diggs’ later verse even weaker by comparison. The final track is another marathon race of lyrics and speed-flows for Diggs, over a flurry of drum breaks like an old Toonami commercial, or perhaps an overblown remix of a Final Fantasy tune.
All in all
Dead Channel Sky feels more like an old TV constantly switching channels than perhaps was intended. As meticulously rhythmic as it is, rhythm is what it misses most. It’s flush with
momentum that goes nowhere except into more kinetic energy and by the time it slows down for even a moment you’re so dizzy and carsick the awkward flows of Diggs’ faux-gangsta drawl give you a headache. It’s a mountain of a mess that’s impossible to pick apart into comprehensible pieces. The tempos and interludes are all so similar and Diggs’ flows are so monotonous after a while the whole record blends into a semi-slop of a mixtape.
