Album Review: Long Term Effects of SUFFERING by $uicideboy$
$uicideboy$ is a hip hop duo from New Orleans. The duo consists of Ruby da Cherry and $crim who are actually cousins. They started making music in 2014 and produced their own beats. They started to gain popularity in the underground hip hop scene and have gathered a cult following. While they have released several mixtapes and EP’s, they are now dropping their sophomore album, Long Term Effects of SUFFERING.
The first track from the project is Degeneration in the Key of A Minor. It opens up with some distorted and twisted instrumental effects. After that, we get some darker and the usual trap styled beats. Since the track is in a minor key, we get a darker vibe from the track. It’s not a terrible track, but just seems to be missing that energy I usually get from $uicideboy$. The vibrato vocal effect doesn’t really add anything of value either so it’s usually a skip for me.
After that, we have If Self-Destruction Was an Olympic Event, I’d Be Tonya Harding. The last track seems to smoothly run into this one. The beat doesn’t change much throughout the track. We just have a repeating electronic bell sound with the trap drums. However, the vocals are definitely more exciting and filled with energy this time which makes this a standout track on the album. They also decided to use a clip from the actual 1994 Cobo Arena attack which is interesting, but also disturbing itself.
Life Is but a Stream~ slows down the tempo of the project again, but this time we bring in a slow and melodic acoustic guitar beginning. Eventually we get the trap fueled drums come in which just don’t mix well with the current instrumentation. While I get that they are talking about more serious topics and issues on this track, I’m not really digging the singing part towards the end, especially since more people are used to the hard hitting tracks.
5 Grand at 8 to 1 brings a more jazz eccentric type beat. We get a piano and trumpet to lead and open up the track. While this definitely brings a smoother and lighter vibe to the album, the rapping over this track just fits so well. With the lyrics, we get several different things. They continue to talk about how their family is cutting off ties. The strange part is that we actually hear $crim talk about how he now believes in a God, which they used to strongly be against, or not believe in, in earlier projects.
WE ENVY NOTHING IN THE WORLD. is probably one of the more hard hitting tracks from the project. We have a descending electronic line that keeps on repeating itself, as well as a booming bass part with the trap styled drums. The beat itself just seems so aggressive compared to all of the other things we’ve heard so far on here. $crim said that this was going to be a different sounding $uicideboy$ album, but would still stay true to their original roots.
Lighting the Flames of My Own Personal Hell marks the shortest track on the project, clocking in under two minutes in length. The track opens up with someone dialing a number, and then it says the number is out of service. As for the instrumental, again, there isn’t much and it’s very minimalistic with the drums and light horn instrument. Other than that, both of them talk about how they were able to leave their old lifestyle.
New Profile Pic was one of the promotional singles for the album, but I didn’t really care for it as much. There’s an odd flute like sound that just doesn’t mesh well and it sounds out of tune. It also just seems like such a light track with the piano, but the drums and delivery of the vocals just seem like complete polar opposites. Other than that, since this was one of the promotional singles, the title of the track was used to signify a new era or album for them.
Bleach opens up with a distorted and reverbed alarm-like sound. Besides the alarm sound, we’re also greeted with the bass and drums once the introduction passes. I don’t really care for this track that much, but I guess the beat is better than the previous track. As for the lyrics and vocals, people are pointing out that $crim is using his old trap-styled persona for rapping on this track. We also get Ruby’s screaming during his verse.
Forget It opens up with some cut and looped electronic bits at the beginning. Eventually the drum beat starts to come in, but it just feels a bit off with the instrumentation. We also get some singing from them instead of rapping which just throws me off. Yeah, the singing just doesn’t really fit with the track, but the rapping at the end doesn’t really either. This has just been another unfortunate skip from their project.
Avalon has a similar feeling beat, at least with the eerieness surrounding it. It has some high pitched parts, but also some reverbed string parts in the background. Yeah, the beat on this one isn’t really doing much for me, but I guess the vocals are a step up from the previous track. Also, the rapping is actually pretty good on this one. It seems like $crim and Ruby both go off on their own individual verses, so that’s a plus.
Materialism as a Means to an End was one of the more recent singles for this project. I wasn’t really a huge fan of the track when it first released, and I’m still not that huge of a fan, but it is growing on me, especially since I’ve been listening to this project more. The beat is pretty minimal in taste with the bell-like beat, heavy bass, and light drum kit. Other than that, there are some similarities to some of their older work.
$uicideboy$ continue the trilogy with the track, Ugliest. In the past, they have made a track titled Ugly, then Uglier, and now Ugliest. The track opens up with a pharmacy commercial from the 90s, but the beat for this is amazing. We have the different alternating piano beats with the drum beat in the background. Also, the vocals are reminiscent of what they would do earlier in their career. They also ended up using a freestyle from a livestream on this track.
The final track we have on the project is The Number You Have Dialed Is Not in Service. Throughout the entire track, we have different sounds, such as dialing, or not in service sound used on the beat, which matches with the title of the track. Unfortunately, we get more singing on this track which leads to an interesting end to the album. It just seems like something that could have been used in the middle of the album, or as a b-side.
While the beginning of the album had some great and solid tracks, the middle and end of the album started to drag on. I’m glad they were able to experiment and try different sounds, but it just didn’t land well.
Overall Rating: 5/10
Favorite Tracks: If Self-Destruction Was an Olympic Event, I’d Be Tonya Harding, 5 Grand at 8 to 1, WE ENVY NOTHING IN THE WORLD., Ugliest
Originally published at https://www.lazymusicguru.com
