It’s not hard to imagine what rapper/producers Milo and Elucid heard in each other. Both are dedicated students of hip-hop, deep-thinkers fascinated by the challenge of continually finding new forms of expression. Yet in some key ways they’re stylistic opposites: Milo’s flow is cool and composed, his words often weightless, while Elucid’s delivery is blunt and forceful. True to his New York roots, he raps with a clenched fist and furrowed brow, periodically channeling KRS-One.
Part of the pleasure of the duo’s meaty self-titled debut album as Nostrum Grocers is simply hearing these two very different presences lock into the same wavelength. They compliment each other. Over jazzy, expressionist boom bap, the two scribble endless knots of socio-political commentary and existential riddles with wordplay that reads like it was charted with a protractor.
As always, Milo understands that “experimental” doesn’t mean “impersonal.” Recorded shortly after the birth of his first son, his verses are candid as ever, steeped in the mixture of euphoria and anxiety that comes with parenthood. “Cookie faced and paranoid trying to buy a high chair/Trying to buy more time on earth to avoid the job fair,” he muses on “Thermal.” Elucid, meanwhile, sells the conviction in every bar. “The best fertilizer is the plantation owner’s foot,” he raps on “Walter Hudson.” On opener “Circumcision is the First Betrayal,” he lands a line so perfect I can’t believe I’ve never heard it before: “You can’t call yourself an ally if we don’t.”
Nostrum Grocers' debut is out now on Ruby Yacht. You can stream it below, via Bandcamp.
