GDP - Useless Eaters (g6d6p6.com)

By Melissa Krenek

Useful eats paired with spastic beats creates healthy diet of real hip-hop

Some of the best lyricists in the game have proved their genius through word instead of beat; unfortunately GDP did not seem to get this memo. The Jersey born rapper starts his album with a track entitled “Neural Circuitry,” a song that sends the synapses into overload with its Super Mario Brothers beat and aggressive rhyming. The hook “Too high to die” sounds exactly like what kids would chant at a house party where the basement reeks of skunked beer and weed. The lyrics are both unique and well versed; sadly the listener can only hear them after a couple listens when the ear becomes accustomed to the psychedelic sounds. Fortunately the rest of the album focuses on the words and not the sounds behind them, making “Neural Circuitry” completely unnecessary.

The second song has a relaxed beat, reminiscent of Aaliyah’s “Back in One Piece.” This beat plus the sample of Slick Rick’s “La di da di” has an old school feel that is nonexistent in hip-hop today. The lyrics are both realistic and melodic, almost keeping the momentum until the end. Instead of fading the song out and continuing on with the album, GDP throws another sample in. This time the sample is not of another song, but of a movie, Naked Gun 2 ½ to be exact. How this adds to the overall sound of the song is mind boggling, in fact it doesn’t have a place in the album at all.

“Carbon Footprint” is one of the most significant tracks on the album. With a beat similar to Tupac’s “Late Night” (Off the album Better Dayz) GDP rants about how we are killing our planet and the importance of realizing it. He chooses one line to describe himself, a refreshing, unique description compared to his contemporaries’ golden picks such as “I’m a boss” or “I’m a beast.” Instead of going the cliché route, GDP decides to keep it both classy and nerdy with the line “It’s like Chuck D meets Charles Darwin.” He switches up the message with a jab at the government: “To a Congress that doesn’t acknowledge/Cause they’re in the wallets of monster conglomerates.” Every piece of this chaotic rant forms a perfect balance of creativity and flow, ending with the realization that this land we take for granted was never ours to take. “We’re ruining the land we stole/ But you don’t feel responsible.” This song should have been the first track, simply because it causes an explosion to the eardrums with its words and nothing else. z

“Little Boxes” takes a different turn, focusing on the social aspect of our world. The beat, off tempo and messy, symbolizes the psychotic mess of life and how no matter what our titles are, we are all made from the same flesh and bone. The chorus screams this reality loud and clear: “A lawyer, and a copper and a doctor in the same casket/A junkie, and a baby and a hussie in the same casket/ A rapper, and an athlete and a pastor in the same casket/ A cross dresser, an executive professor in the same casket.”

“Oxypolicontin” follows the story of a drug crazed society, having the narrator (GDP) participate in the using. Whether the confession is fiction or nonfiction it grips onto the listener and does not let go. After the repetition of the word “you” the question arises as to whether it is used generally or directed at a particular person. Either way the upbeat piano doesn’t take away from the eerie feeling of the song, even the sample at the end is less than uplifting. This sample, unlike the others before it, affects the listener more than the song itself. Though slow and soothing, when paying attention to the words, it becomes more chilling than the song’s original content. It is a sample from a movie entitled “Leonard Cohen: I’m your man,” based on the life of Leonard Cohen, a Canadian singer, songwriter, poet, and novelist. “Every time you grab at love, you will lose a snowflake of your memory”

“All My Friends are on Meds” starts with the most powerful lyric of the song, not in message, but creativity. “The ghost rider sends subliminal disses son I pity the fool/ Tweaking out shirtless throwing chicks in swimming pools.” Though random and sporadic, it embodies the mind of a junkie, delusional and aggressive. The rest of the song follows the fast pace of a normal druggie story, with no other line holding the raw energy of the first.

“Biathantos,” the second to last track of the album, has some creative lyrics but butchers a legendary line from Cypress Hill and the brilliant reincarnation by Rage Against the Machine. Though it is meant to hold meaning, the line “Here is something you can’t understand, how I can just kill myself,” falls flat lyrically as well as emotionally. Not only is it unoriginal, but it is abrupt and uninspiring. Fortunately GDP recovers with some powerful ending lyrics like “It looks like freedom, feels like death/ It’s something in between I guess/Jesus saves as the doctor takes a fee/It’s a dog eat dog world so bon appétit”

GDP ends the album on a musical note, introducing a jazzy feel with “Someday When Things are Good,” which brings an inspirational feeling of hope to an otherwise raw, dirty, and overall realistic album. Though watered down at times by heavy beats and over used samples, GDP has the energy and T.S Elliot-esque poetry to rise above many other underground rappers out now. He deals with socially relevant topics and avoids the “Look what I have that you can’t afford” mentality. This may be because he is still underground, so we will see what he speaks about once he hits it big, which should not take too long.