Quell-Ay.
Here at the album club, we allow ourselves two submissions into the pool, and I always pick at least one hip hop album. Really, I'm not tied down to any one particular genre as far as what I listen to in my own time, but hip hop is probably my home base so to speak, and with every pick I make, I try to introduce/expose the group to a new dimension of the genre and what it can be. The Money Store was my "here's this genre at its craziest" pick, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back was my classic pick, so on and so forth. I had two goals in mind with Guns.
The first was to explore the other side of the coin that is The Money Store. Or to try to put it in a way where I don't try to forge a connection that clearly isn't there, it's an impressionistic off-kilter album in both its writing in production, but it's exploring a different vibe. The Money Store is loud, abrasive, and overwhelming. Guns is quiet, contemplative, and warm. It's an edge in hip hop's arsenal that many don't know exists, let alone appreciate, and it's something I haven't used this club to explore yet.
The other is tonality. I don't know why I have this impulse to treat hip hop like it needs some kind of defending when it clearly doesn't, but I imagine that many who look at the cover art and the name and see that it's an album called "Guns" probably assume that it's a gangster rap album. In reality, it couldn't be further from it. Rather, it's a meditation on the madness guns have brought to the US. But more so, it's about the feeling of waking up every morning feeling like there's chaos brewing outside your door (and even in it), and it seems like everything's being turned into a weapon to be wielded against you. The color of your skin ("It's the Law (Farewell Goodbye Addio, Uncle Tom)"), your outsider status ("Wild Minks"), your desire for to live your life undisturbed ("Mind Ya Bidness"), and anything else you can think of.
But's also about trying to find peace in all the confusion and anxiety. Specifically, finding it in the acknowledgment of how all the chaos makes you feel and finding solace in your community and the people you love. To tie this to my actual feelings about the album, this is what makes it for me. It's not a perfect album. But there's plenty of music you can find about the world being shit, but it's rare to find something that offers a way out. Or at the very least, something that wants to be more of a balm than a reminder that you're fucked.
I don't like some of the interstitial material on the album, there are times when I struggle with certain songs not really being on theme (that is if you take every song at face value and not consider the overall vibe, which on those terms I think it nails), and it's a little more of a back-halfer for me. I could name a few more. But I can overlook the flaws because of the big heart beating underneath it all. It just gets to me.
Favorite Songs: "Guns," "Wild Minks," "Straight Shot"
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