Black Milk
No Poison No Paradise
Release Date: Oct 15, 2013
Genre(s): Rap, Underground Rap
Record label: Fat Beats
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Album Review: No Poison No Paradise by Black Milk
Great, Based on 6 Critics
Based on rating 4.5/5
In years’ past, Black Milk didn’t mind bragging about himself. As he saw it, he made the best beats and had an all-around better life than you. At least that’s been the narrative for the Detroit producer/emcee. Though Milk’s previous solo recording, 2010’s Album Of The Year, touched on his tumultuous 2009, it was a mostly festive parade of heavy drums and celebratory rhymes that touted his affinity for lavish surroundings and fun-filled weekends.
Based on rating 8/10
P.O.S. :: Chill, dummyDoomtree RecordsAuthor: Patrick TaylorI've been a fan of Stefon "P.O.S." Alexander since his debut nearly 10 years ago. On "Audition" and 2009's "Never Better," he proved himself to be one of the few artists who could successfully meld punk rock and hip-hop. Fellow Minnesotans ….
Based on rating 8/10
If Black Milk's loud and bright 2010 effort Album of the Year felt like triumph and soul, the dark and punchy No Poison No Paradise feels like doubt and funk. It's also a return to the same kind of hip-shaking techno beats found on his 2008 album, Tronic, but the formerly Detroit-, now Dallas-based rapper and producer is also post-breakthrough, so his hunger is for something different, as the observational "Interpret Sabotage" searches for meaning, or at least peace of mind. Rattling off his lines at a frantic, Twista-fast pace and with a Kanye West-sharp snarl, Milk offers "They're poppin champagne with bitches in bars/They get in the car, they get out of the car, they get in their loft, and get up their broad/They get up the mornin' they like.
Based on rating 8/10
The man who's had his city on his back for a minute returns with No Poison No Paradise (his first full-length project since 2010's Album of the Year). On the new drop, Black Milk brings his trademark Detroit sound (a combination of classic, jazzy instrumentation and head-scratching, post-apocalyptic sonics) to the forefront as he shares the mic with guests, ranging from Illadelphia native son Black Thought to crooner Dwele and fellow Motor City up-and-comer Quelle Chris. Black Milk continues to grow both lyrically and musically on his latest offering, demonstrating maturity on the mic as well on cuts like "Codes and Cab Fare" featuring legendary MC Black Thought giving a bird's eye view of a young gun running through the streets of Detroit over Milk's shimmering robotics.
Based on rating 7.3/10
Detroit producer/rapper Black Milk favors sounds that hurt just a little—drums tweaked sideways so they check you in the shoulder instead of landing straight, synth sounds with big gaps in the frequencies. He has a diehard golden-age revivalist fan base, but the farther away from Native Tongues revivalism his music travels, the more willfuly ugly it becomes, the better he gets—the waveform of his best beats would look like a grin full of broken teeth. No Poison No Paradise, his latest, features some of the ugliest- sounding, and therefore best and most fully-realized, music of his career.
Based on rating C-
J Dilla sort of messed it up for everybody. It’s like what Michael Jordan did to every NBA player that will follow him. Or what The Notorious B.I.G. did to a lot of New York rappers who came after him. It’s not completely on purpose, but their impact was so deep that every artist whose style is ….
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