Flash Bang Grenada: 10 Haters (Hellfyre Club / Alpha Pup, 8/23/11)
Flash Bang Grenada: “In a Perfect World” (f. Open Mike Eagle)
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Flash_Bang_Grenada_In_a_Perfect_World.mp3|titles=Flash Bang Grenada: “In a Perfect World”]Indie rappers Busdriver and NoCanDo have reputations for being wordy, nerdy, and bitingly sarcastic. For Flash Bang Grenada, the two have joined forces to make nerd rap gone dirty. With their first full-length together, the two have taken to toppling the mainstream rap game by fighting fire with fire. Amid frequent drops of “bitch” and “ho,” there’s plenty of moisturizer-based raunchiness and sarcastic misogyny — but also songs about teleportation and hyperbole as well as slams at Lockheed Martin, John Boehner, and the Tea Party.
Indeed, the clever lyrics are much more than gratuitous mockery. But even though Busdriver and NoCanDo both carry their mantles as masters of wordplay, the album also fields a bevy of other key contributions, including great production from Mexicans with Guns, Nosaj Thing, Free the Robots, Shlohmo, Busdriver, and more for heavily synthesized, beat-banging hip hop.