Album Review: SpaceGhostPurrp – Mysterious Phonk: Chronicles of SpaceGhostPurrp



Artist: SpaceGhostPurrp
Album: Mysterious Phonk: Chronicles of SpaceGhostPurrp
Label: 4AD

Essentially a compilation of the best of the Floridian rap prodigy’s self-released mixtapes, Mysterious Phonk is an impressive, occasionally excellent debut, but ultimately one that promises more than it delivers. For one thing, the new versions of tracks like ‘Mystikal Maze’ and ‘Don’t Give a Damn’ have been scrubbed up and shorn of the rough edges and straight-up weirdness that made them so intriguing in the first place. Sure, those early mixtapes were a mess, but they had a chaotic charm that is strangely lacking here. What’s more, the cleaner sound affords more room in the mix for Purrp’s vocals, which, frankly, does him few favours: he’s clearly a wizard behind the mixing desk, but on the mic he has neither the flow nor the rhymes to match the quality of his often dazzling productions.
(Ian Kenneth Macbeth)

Rating: 3/5