L'Orange & Mr. Lif [extended]

• Emergency Rations [Definitive Jux, 2002] A-
• I Phantom [Definitive Jux, 2002] A
• Sleepyheads [Thought Wizard, 2003] A-
• Mo' Mega [Def Jux, 2006] ***
• I Heard It Today [Bloodbot Tactical Enterprises, 2009] ***
• Old Soul [self-released, 2011] **
• The City Under the City [Mello Music Group, 2013] **
• The Night Took Us in Like Family [Mello Music, 2015] A-
• Time? Astonishing! [Mello Music Group, 2015] **
• Don't Look Down [Mello Music, 2016] **
• The Life and Death of Scenery [Mello Music Group, 2016] *
• The Ordinary Man [Mello Music, 2017] ***
• Resilient [Waxsimile, 2017] **

See Also:

• L'Orange
• L'Orange & Jeremiah Jae
• L'Orange & Stik Figa
• L'Orange & Kool Keith
• Mr. Lif
• Mr. Lif & Brass Manazeri

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Mr. Lif: Emergency Rations [Definitive Jux, 2002]
A funny guy, an angry guy, he sets up a concept album with a concept EP that ostensibly plays off his disappearance, from where he ain't gonna tell you 'cause you really ought to know. In fact, it's an excuse to drop random science about the place of hip hop in the military-industrial complex. A-

Mr. Lif: I Phantom [Definitive Jux, 2002]
I've long suspected that a musically pleasurable album would betray everything the misanthropes at Def Jux stood for--their principles, their vision, their neuroses. But all it took was a normal rapper, which Mr. Lif is--for a rapper, abnormally so. However autobiographical this song cycle, which begins with a stickup and ends with a nuclear holocaust, it evinces not only conceptual ambition but detailed knowledge of what it's like to work a job and raise a family. It's underpinned by an analysis more Boots Riley than Talib Kweli or Steve Earle. And it fleshes out its cohesive narrative and cogent ideas with beats that respect the spare antipop ethos without abjuring such wayward rhythm elements as femme chorus, bass-drum-whoop jam, and $20 synth loop. A

Mr. Lif: Sleepyheads [Thought Wizard, 2003]
"Unreleased and hard to find," 1995-2002--and as such, choppy. But also, undie or not, catchy. With his neat timbre and big fat dreads, Lif specializes in black science, but that doesn't mean he rhymes as consistently as, to cite one freestyle target, Jay-Z. "I burn off your flesh like David Koresh" wicked, "I'm getting physical like fitness" not, "Niggers want their frankincense and myrrh back" complex, "These type of facts I don't tend to shun/So I press into the universe to defend the sun" unnatural. As if in compensation, his beats hook and hold--try the banjo and guitar that anchor the old Grand Royal 12-inch. A-

Mr. Lif: Mo' Mega [Def Jux, 2006]
When world death threatens, don't expect El-P's beats to lift anyone's spirits for the struggle ahead ("Brothaz," "Murs Iz My Manager"). ***

Mr. Lif: I Heard It Today [Bloodbot Tactical Enterprises, 2009]
Alt-rap against monetarism, with beats to match ("What About Us?" "Welcome to the World"). ***

L'Orange: Old Soul [self-released, 2011]
Billie Holiday tribute mixtape-qua-rip, no more and definitely no less ("Lost Souls," "The Night") **

L'Orange & Stik Figa: The City Under the City [Mello Music Group, 2013]
Atmospheric North Carolina beatmaster embellishes sincere Topeka rapper, Firesign Theater chips in ("Before Midnight," "Dopamine") **

L'Orange & Jeremiah Jae: The Night Took Us in Like Family [Mello Music, 2015]
Reminding us that gangsters are an old story in the entertainment business, impressionistic beatmaster samples multiple subnoir flicks with occasional Bogart for a touch of class. The verbal content is murmured by an L.A.-based Flying Lotus subaltern constantly off kilter and on point: "Kept the spirit like K-Fed/Now I'm aiming with the crossbow off with his head/Running jewels with the Pro-Keds/We wanna run from the man for the street cred." So yes, there's a message, laugh lines too. Homeboy Sandman gets a 16. But the pull is musical, particularly the way L'Orange's rhythms shift texturally as well as temporally--every minute, new effects daub and stipple the groove. Although lighter in tone and bottom, it had me going back to Ghost Dog. Hip-hop soundtracking doesn't get more evocative than that. A-

L'Orange & Kool Keith: Time? Astonishing! [Mello Music Group, 2015]
"My lyrics seem to amaze us--all five of us," cracks the crackpot, who at least cans the porn in this multi-collab whose producer is solely responsible for the instrumental intro it never tops ("Time? Astonishing!" "Dr. Bipolar," "Upwards. To Space!") **

Mr. Lif: Don't Look Down [Mello Music, 2016]
Still articulating every word in his forties, he drops rationalist science and life-or-death mysticism over loops he's proud are old-school ("Pounds of Pressure," "Mission Accomplished") **

The Life and Death of Scenery [Mello Music Group, 2016]
Dystopia soundscaped, meaning technology's terrible beauty lovingly tended and paradoxically embraced ("Strange Technology," "Five Lies About the World Outside") *

L'Orange: The Ordinary Man [Mello Music, 2017]
Mellow, grooveful, humorous beatmaster-soundscaper emerges from a bout of hearing loss with an ear-friendly bag of tricks that's never trickier than when guest rappers pay their respects and collect a check ("Blame the Author," "Look Around," "Things Are Just Props") ***

Mr. Lif & Brass Manazeri: Resilient [Waxsimile, 2017]
Luxuriating in a second life, clipped Boston alt-rapper thought it an interesting challenge to adapt to beats from a live if messed-with Balkan brass band, and interesting is precisely what it is ("The Wanderer," "What About Us?!") **