There’s Some Truly Weird And Great Rap Coming Out Of Western Mass Right Now

A few years ago, this young guy Lucas Kendall started a punk label in rural Massachusetts called Dark World. They released a lot of hot country DIY gunk, and then, around the time Chief Keef happened, some of the people involved apparently realized that rap music, with its similarly rebellious directness and cheap tools of production, could kind of accomplish the same effect. Lucas got Auto-Tune and started producing and rapping as DJ Lucas, and his buddy Reuven Ender-Arnold, who’d been the drummer in a Dark World metal band, started rapping as Gods Wisdom. Neither of them really sounds like anyone else.

On November 10, they’re releasing a collaborative LP called Gods Lucas. They’ve each got key solo projects out—Gods Wisdom’s Goth from 2014, and Lucas’ Mansion II from this summer is great—but this new one really is next level. And funny enough it’s being put out by Mr. Next Next Level himself, Juiceboxxx, on his no-rules label, Thunder Zone. Perfect home for such far-out American madness.

“Unprepared” is the first track on Gods Lucas, and while it’s not quiiite as catchy as my favorite DJ Lucas songs, which I've dropped in below, whatever the fuck Gods Wisdom is saying at the start of the hook—and the mushiness in which he’s saying it—is a freaky ear-slug par excellence. The line I want to be a cop so I can get free weed is really something. Lucas’ melodies are as annoyingly unshakeable as ever. The video is hilarious. I asked Lucas if he wanted to say anything about it, and he said, "It's a barnyard party, that's for sure."