Who? Kooky white rhymer Andrew “Vulture V” Field-Pickering took a liking to ProTools mad scientist Nick “Ricky Rabbit” Rivetti’s beats — or lack thereof — through a friend’s car stereo. From there, the two quickly became a Maryland by way of D.C. duo, collaborating on 2004’s noise-rock-meets-hip-hop EP, Scavengers. A second MC, Sterling “HY” Warren, was added to the Food For Animals food chain in 2006; Belly, FFA’s first studio LP, is available now via the Baltimore-based Hoss label.
What’s the Deal? Somewhere amidst the glossed over experimentations of El-P and the digital firestorm currently being explored in grime lies the Food For Animals sound, where raps are drawn from hard drive chaos. Belly, referencing the group’s ‘belly of the beast’ D.C. roots, opens with “What’s Up,” an electronic blitzkrieg of bleeps and glitches weaved masterly by Rivitti, strung into a ten second tease of a verse at the end. Other outliers like “Swampy (Summer Jam)” is slathered in funky ’80s synths that’d fit nicely on the floors of the club. But FFA’s most lethal moments are managed when the trio pulls flow from a very strange techno-freak industrial wasteland that’s far more refreshing than frustrating.
Fun Fact: Food For Animals is gearing up for future beastly subgenres like “Nap Rap.” “It’s a very slow, slower than screw, form of rap where you perform veeerrrry slow raps over even slower beats and the audience is made to sit on pillows in an all-white room,” Vulture V tells SPIN.com. “The entire movement, we decided, is spearheaded by HY’s “nap rap” alias, Pillow Reilly.”
Now Hear This:
Food For Animals – “Swampy (Summer Jam)” DOWNLOAD MP3
On the Web:
Food For Animals at MySpace
Talk: Is this Food fit for us Animals?
Tags: Food For Animals