SCRAPYARD

Yeah, I think I can proudly say I’m a Quadeca fan and not live to regret that statement.

Benjamin Lasky is someone who I’ve had an interesting history with. Despite never meeting the guy once or ever interacting with him, I’ve found myself hating him at one point. I think it was because I saw him as the corniness and tack and posturing of YouTube rap accentuated and brought to the forefront. 2022’s I Didn’t Mean To Haunt You, to me, was an instant knock out of the park that not only did what his previous record tried and failed to do, but did so whilst carving out his own creative and distinguished sound. He cut out all of the fat, the cringe, the bullshit and managed to gain not only my respect but my ear and my eye. I went from knowing he had potential but being unsure whether he’d capitalize off of it, to seeing him flourish and evolve and make not only a good record, but a great fucking record. Not only a great fucking record, a great fucking genre-bending conceptual record. It was ambitious and really solidified my trust in what he’d put out next.

And here we are. Well, it’s not like he put out nothing between this. A good year after IDMTHY, after a tour with a live band and a vinyl press, he was back with a few editions of what he was calling Scrapyard. Creative title indeed, as these are clearly tracks written during and shortly after the previous album, with some newer shit he’d been working on sprinkled in between. I think the Mixtape format is the most efficient here, as the project lacks coherence. That’s not a bad thing, though as it also means that Quad can go really wherever he wants. There’s some more grandiose tracks here, some hype-sounding cyber-rap bangers, the acoustic Guide Dog (which really surprised me, I don’t know why) and the very Beatlesesque What’s It To Him? and it mostly all works. There’s certain weak cuts here, as a group of B Sides will most definitely not result in a 10/10 record, but they’re few and far between and what we get more often than not is surprisingly developed and interesting. Sure, some songs may blend in a little bit and have a familiar climactic section that maybe I remember from another song on this disc or the last one, but the overall vibe is really strong here. It’s coherent in aspects, and maybe moreso than it should be for a mixtape.

Quad’s singing isn’t phenomenal, and that’s more noticeable on cuts with less vocal effects, but they have quite a bit of charm and character to them all things considered. He also raps a notable amount more on here than the last and it’s honestly pretty solid. He definitely knows how to reign in and not do it in a way that assaults the ears with spiritual lyrical miracle cringe like he did on FMTY. Another small complaint I have, and I really don’t have many here, is when he’s trying to diss people while he’s rapping like on Guess Who? calling people “ants” and shit like that. It just really doesn’t work for me with this style and gives me think back to his corny diss track era. Pretty small complaint though as it really isn’t a flaw that ruins the song it attaches itself to, and I wanna be clear that I don’t think Quad is reverting back in any way. He’s on a perfect trajectory right now and I know when he is talking shit in any of his raps on here it was because he was just having fun with it. I do enjoy the rap tracks on here a good margin too, as Way Too Many Friends, Even If I Tried and the aforementioned Guess Who? are some of my favorites on here.

Before I wrap this up I wanna give props to the song U Tried That Thing Where Ur Human as it is genuinely brilliant and quite possibly one of his best songs to date. There’s a fragile and instantly nerve-striking quality to it. It feels calming, but unstable. The little psychotic laughs add a ton to the atmosphere. It really struck a chord with me. But yeah no this is more quality from the Quadriceps camp and I’m so excited for his album later this year. More reviews to come!

Favorite Tracks: Dustcutter, A La Carte, Pretty Privilege, Even If I Tried, What’s It To Him?, I Make It Look Effortless, Way Too
Many Friends, Guess Who?, Under My Skin, Being Yourself, U Tried That Thing Where Ur Human, Guide Dog, Texas Blue

Okay Track: U Don’t Know Me Like That

Least Favorite Track: Easier