From the blood-curdling yells in which the anonymous MC delivers lines about dead cops and human sacrifice, to the positively chilling Charles Manson sample that begins the album, Exmilitary is the real deal, the absolute extent of your parents’ worst nightmares when you came home with your first rap album.
Death Grips' first mixtape is a grim look at mankind's worst personality traits:: greed, addiction, anger. And the beats are just as offensive as the screamed rap vocals--which only helps get the point across.
It’s a record that’s quite open to cynicism – Exmilitary is easy to dismiss as excessive and carelessly noisy. It’s going to polarise listeners, but it’s useless to criticise it for being so angry and unlistenable because that’s Death Grips’ prerogative. It’s kind of like reading a good book entirely in caps lock. It’s a spot-on realisation of their themes, but relentlessly, perhaps brilliantly, inaccessible.
am i racist for thinking it was Samuel L Jackson on the cover for years
edit: after a year idk how to feel about this being one of my most popular reviews, kinda embarrassing
Loud, raw, ugly, and unhinged! 8 years later and Exmilitary still manages to pack as great of a punch as it always has
Personally I always gravitated towards DG’s later works but this project upon many revisits stands out as much more than just a stepping stone for the band as they developed their sound into The Money Store. Exmilitary is a simple but impactful drug trip that mashes together rock, electronic, and hip hop into a 48 minute cinematic experience.
The album is again, ugly. ... read more
Raw. Unhinged. Relentless. A Straight Banger Of A Mixtape. These are all words to describe this powerhouse of a debut, but it still doesn't feel like enough. Exmilitary is the strange mutant child of what would soon become The Money Store; it has all the abrasive, experimental and mind warping elements The Money Store has but in a less accessible and more all over the place fashion. When you're calling THE MONEY STORE accessible, that's when you've stumbled upon something completely new. The ... read more
Death Grips comes out in force with their debut project and it is an absolute storm of abrasive hip hop that gives no fucks and yet is also thought provoking.
Perfect portrayal of totally losing control. Never has an album made me as uncomfortable as this one. 11/10
Fav tracks: I Want It I Need It, Takyon, Beware
1 | Beware 5:53 | 94 |
2 | Guillotine 3:43 | 92 |
3 | Spread Eagle Cross the Block 3:52 | 90 |
4 | Lord of the Game 3:30 | 90 |
5 | Takyon (Death Yon) 2:48 | 95 |
6 | Cut Throat (Instrumental) 1:12 | 84 |
7 | Klink 3:32 | 91 |
8 | Culture Shock 4:21 | 89 |
9 | 5D 0:43 | 82 |
10 | Thru the Walls 3:56 | 88 |
11 | Known for It 4:13 | 88 |
12 | I Want It I Need It (Death Heated) 6:11 | 91 |
13 | Blood Creepin 4:50 | 85 |
#2 | / | The Needle Drop |
#9 | / | The Quietus |
#22 | / | Tiny Mix Tapes |
#38 | / | No Ripcord |
#41 | / | NME |