ARTIST OF THE WEEK: LIL DISCEASED

Kicking off his 2021 with an excellent new tape, Lil Disceased remains at the forefront of underground innovation. He had a pretty good 2020, and in the very first week of the year he’s proven that he’s determined to have an even better 12 months this time round. For this reason, he’s my artist of the week.

I knew that Transvergence, Disceased’s first project of the year, was going to be special based on the way that he spoke about it. With each new release Disceased encourages listeners to really place themselves in the artist’s mind, announcing each time that he’s bettered himself with an upcoming song or album. In the case of this seven track EP he was more than right to sing his own praises, as thanks to impeccable performances from Disceased and production assistance from the equally prolific Zerosuit he has provided his finest project since last year’s Zero collab The Lone Gunslinger Side B. 2020’s American Trash was the last time that he dropped this many songs all at once, but the focus here dwarfs any other entry in his discography by far.

Zero’s production here is massive. ‘Spitten Durty’ is a great introduction, contorting and writhing beneath the despondent yet motivated vocals. ‘Breaking Points’ is a real face-ripper, presenting evil-sounding melodies and schizophrenic drum patterns. ‘Streamline’ is one of the hardest beats that Disceased has ever rapped on, a real production colossus that sports menacing siren call melodies and haunted vocal samples over thunderously huge 808’s. Zero contributes the third of three features here, his infectious hook providing ample energy for Disceased to bounce his performance of. Zero’s presence on this project arguably makes it as much his project as it is his fellow SouthernGawthMobb member’s, but as with all of his best releases its down to Disceased to do the heavy lifting in the rap department. On ‘Breaking Points’, the rapper celebrates his achievements and decries his haters (big fan of the ‘little bitch’ thing that he’s been doing more as of late), resulting in one of his cleanest verses in a while.

Even on beats that are a little outside of his usual repertoire, the rapper shines equally hard. On ‘Maker of Pain’, video game synths flood listener’s ears as messages of shining through struggle are delivered by both Disceased and frequent collaborator Ferrara (I don’t think they’ll ever top ‘Circles’ though). Thanks to some insane mixing and superb raps across the board, this is one of Disceased’s most powerful, envelope-pushing releases yet. Factor in his recent ‘Hammaz Up’ single produced by GYPTXVN, and you have one of the best first weeks for an artist in the history of the underground. Go check out everything Disceased has released this year so far, and dive into his back catalogue too as it’s full of gems.

Stream Transvergence and ‘Hammaz Up’ below.