Cassette Review // azraelRapsGood x The Dirty Sample "Content" (Hand'Solo Records)

https://handsolorecords.bandcamp.com/album/content

When listening to this cassette, it becomes quite clear that the title is in fact the theme and it is: "Content".   In the world we live in now, with social media and everyone has their own YouTube channel, content can be a funny thing.  I think about it often but it doesn't seem like it's talked about as much.   There comes a point where you wonder if you're doing things because you like to or if you're doing them for content and the lines begin to blur.  As a writer it's tough because I always wonder "Should I write about this? It'd be some good content!", but sometimes things should just be what they are.

"Content" opens up with these audio clips and this sound overall in many ways reminds me of clipping.    There are references to Bam Bam Bigelow and Rob Van Dam in here and professional wrestling is something else which I think of in terms of content.  If you ever watch WWE in the year 2023, everyone in the audience has their phones out trying to make videos of everything.   Everyone has a podcast or a YouTube channel to tell us their thoughts on the shows.  But when I was younger going to wrestling, our phones didn't even have cameras in them (we didn't have cellphones) so we just enjoyed the show and lived in the moment.

There are keys and I'm a big fan of the line "Plastic degrades but gold doesn't fade" on "Gold", which is kind of interesting because they say plastic takes too long to biodegrade and that's why a lot of stores have done away with plastic bags.   On "Always Was" there is that Buckaroo Banzai line about "wherever you go, there you are" and I like how this film can be referenced but not in a direct name-dropping way.   Sometimes these beats remind me of Naughty By Nature as well.  

On the flip side we open up with "Downvoted", which is something a lot of people who make content know about.  It just reminds me of the GIF for "Why are you booing me? I'm right!"  "Flesh Suit" is a song which addresses racism in the sense that we're all the same inside and what we wear as our flesh shouldn't divide us like it does.   "Greased Lightning" has these big synth beats and while most cassettes from Hand'Solo Records have the songs on Side A and instrumentals on Side B, this particular cassette has two bonus songs which are only on the cassette and that is a better reason to buy this as a cassette as well.