★★★★☆
Meechy Darko, Zombie Juice and Erick Arc Elliot have always been in a lane of their own, desperate to challenge the traditional New York hip-hop sound.
This rebellious trend is particularly evident on their debut record, 3001: A Laced Odyssey, on which the psychedelic trio vent their dreams and nightmares through 12 tracks of LSD-fuelled lyricism. The collective change flows as often as one would change clothes and build spectacularly on their previous mixtapes, some of which date all the way back to 2010.
The album relays the raw, zany inner-workings of the Jamaican-born group, an assemblage of rappers who are now a household name on the East Coast of America. Few tracks are as fit for an opener as ‘The Odyssey’, anchored as it is with resounding drums and haunting keys.
The mood shifts between the heavy-hitting and the hypnotic on ‘A Spike Lee Joint’, with smooth, ethereal jazz notes to slow things down. ‘Good Grief’ and ‘New Phone, Who Dis?’ are both rife with thick basslines and vocal echoes that highlight the warped, twisted nature of each individual.
Flatbush Zombies have gone above and beyond, managing to harness their tortured inner-fantasies.
