Tag: Tanoshi Crime School Records

Michael VQ Lays Waste to Sociopathic, Wannabe Oligarch Failsons on Colorful Breakbeat Track “RICH P”

Michael VQ, photo courtesy the artist

In “RICH P” Michael VQ seems to be taking direct aim at one of those people who it’s said were born on third base and thought they hit a triple. The kind of person who never really had to work for their health and then tell other people who weren’t born to great money to work hard and be frugal if they want to be as successful as they are. The blend of hip-hop word flow and Jack Dangers-esque production in an breakbeat style really suits the righteously caustic invective that takes down the lifestyle and mentality of the ultra rich. The lines about how “he” doesn’t pay his bills makes one think of a particular racist would be oligarch but of course no need to name someone specific because all kinds of upward failsons and daughters seem to find themselves “miraculously” successful. Being handed 413 million dollars by your dad can sure make you look like an accomplished big shot despite having few actual accomplishments to your name and yet for certain people and their ego and low self-esteem that’s not nearly enough privilege in life. All hints and allegations aside, the song and its video making various forms of cash look like warped symbols of corruption is perfectly paired in the takedown of a monstrous mindset and how society and culture is poised to prop up and perpetuate it. Watch the video for “RICH P” on YouTube and follow Michael VQ at the links below. Look out for the album 4U&URMØN$TER on Tanoshi Crime School Records coming soon.

Michael VQ on Instagram

Michael VQ Evokes Late 90s Experimental Electronic Weirdness on Hip-Hop-Inflected IDM Single “The Remakes”

Michael VQ, photo courtesy the artist

Even without the outstanding video treatment for the song, “The Remakes” by Michael VQ has a tonal resonance and immediacy of production that holds your attention from the beginning. It’s style is a bit like if Aphex Twin and say JPEGMAFIA or Aesop Rock collaborated on a track that was too weird to be the kind of hip-hop many people think when that expectation is set and too hip-hop for whatever genre tags one might want to apply to the work of Richard D. James. Voices are layered in the track to form rhythm and melody alongside the programming giving the whole affair an organic quality that is intimate while the processed beats lend it the aspect of a dance track for a more forward thinking modern rave event. The music video has vivid images mirrored in quadrants and constant motion and imaginative color palettes like an Edgar Wright film and the procession of figures hits like an experimental horror film minus the fear. The net effect will be reminiscent for those that remember of a time in the late 90s at night on MTV when some of the most forward thinking electronic music of the 90s found a place to be broadcast to people who might otherwise have never heard much less seen visuals for that music for years without being in the places where it came from. The imagery and the music together feels like a well kept secret that won’t be for long. Watch the video for “The Remakes” on YouTube. Look for Michael VQ’s album 4U&URMØN$TER out soon on Tanoshi Crime School Records. Connect with the artist at the links below.

Michael VQ on Instagram