It’s 1:02 AM right now, and I have to be at school in seven hours, and I know it’s gonna be hard for me to wake up, but I can’t sleep right now, so I’m finna go ahead and start working on this shit right now. Sorry for the run on sentence… My bad… Anyway, Clockwork Indigo is an East Coast Hip Hop supergroup consisting of Flatbush Zombies & The Underachievers. They released this self-titled EP last year on October 17th in promotion for their then-upcoming tour, The Electric KoolAde Experience. Even though I was really excited for it, I never actually checked it out. I’m not really sure why… If I’m remembering correctly, I really enjoyed The Underachievers’ debut mixtape, Indigoism. I may review that in like 1000 years. It’s long as shit. I never checked out any of their other shits tho. They’ve released another mixtape, and two actual full-length albums since Indigoism dropped. I’ve enjoyed all the singles I’ve heard from those projects tho. I just never really bothered listening to the actual projects from which they came. I don’t know why… I also really haven’t listened to that much Flatbush Zombies shit. I listened to Better Off Dead, and I only actually liked 5 songs. I bet if I listened to it now I would like it a lot more than I did before… The first time I actually heard them was on that song Bath Salt, which was a song from the A$AP Mob’s mixtape, Lord$ Never Worry. That song is dope af. A$AP Ant kinda ruined it, but other than that it’s fucking great. So, I wasn’t really in love with Better Off Dead, but I really liked what they did on Bath Salt. After I heard Better Off Dead, they started that Day Of The Dead series. I think they released a new song like once a week for a month or two. I don’t remember exactly what it was. They did it this year too tho. Hopefully they do it again next year, because I’ve liked almost every song they’ve dropped since they started that shit. I think the only one I didn’t like was called Don’t Do Drugs Kids. Red Light, Green Light is my fucking shit tho. That beat from The Architect is fucking incredible. I coulda did without the intro from Espa tho. I actually ended up cuttin’ it out with GarageBand. Wasn’t really feelin’ that part… When the beat gets pitch-shifted down, and Meechy goes in tho… Just thinkin’ about that part has already got me sweatin’. His fuckin’ grimy ass voice over that incredible beat was amazing. Every time I’m listening to that part, and he’s like “YOU GON’ LEARN TODAY,” I’m just like “…Goddamn.” That song is fucking great. I also really like Get Yours. That song is also fucking incredible to me. The beat makes me think of old N64 games for some reason. I don’t know why. My point is, The Architect is a fantastic producer, and that Day Of The Dead series is fantastic. I hope their next project is as good as that shit. I also hope this one is too. Alright, lemme quit dickin’ around and start this shit already. Every track is produced by The Architect, so the beats should all be dope.

Track 1: The Butterfly Effect

This is the only song that I’ve heard from this project, and it’s dope. The only problem is that it’s long as shit. I guess a problem like that is to be expected from a group that’s composed of five dope MCs, but goddamn. They could’ve each did like 8 bars or something. I don’t know. There had to have been a way to cut this shit down. The beat is dope af, but since the song is so long, it gets pretty annoying by the time it’s over. You’re also gonna get really tired of that Carl Sagan sample. “It seems madness to say…” You’re gonna hear that shit like a thousand times if you listen to this song. I listened to this shit on a plane once, and before it was over I was like “Yo, somebody tell this nasty old white man to shut the fuck up. Goddamn. We get it.” I didn’t say that out loud, of course. That just would’ve been weird. There were probably only like 2 other non-white families on the plane. Anyway, this song is seven minutes long. That doesn’t really sound that bad on paper, but by the time it’s over you’ll know what I mean when I say this shit gets old. That whiny beat just gets so fucking irritating. I like it tho. It’s just the length of the song. I haven’t listened to it for this review yet, by the way. I’m just telling y’all what I remember about it before it starts. I don’t know if I feel like listening to this long ass song right now. I’m just gonna go to sleep. It’s 1:45 right now. Tomorrow’s about to be a long ass day. I’ll hopefully finish this when I get home from school. I’m sitting in my Theology class right now. I hate this class so much. My teacher is so fucking boring. It’s ridiculous. Half the time you can barely hear his old ass. At one point there were some loud ass kids making too much noise in the hallway, so he was like, “can somebody please close the door?” Nobody did anything. There was one girl sitting right in front of the door. Everyone just stared at her for like 10 seconds, and she didn’t do anything. Eventually some other girl closed it. I’m in french class right now. We have like 20 minutes to do whatever we want, but I don’t have any goddamn headphones. Lemme see what else I can remember about this song… Aside from the Carl Sagan sample, you’re also gonna hear some chick saying “It’s my belief…” It’s so annoying. Alright. I’ll finish this when I get home. When I got home I fell asleep for about eight hours. It’s 2:09 right now. Okay, I’m gonna start the song now. Carl Sagan is already goin’ in. Erick Arc Elliott (The Architect) was on the first verse. It was pretty dope. I think the problem with this song is it’s slow tempo. This song could’ve been a lot shorter if they just sped the drums up, and rapped a little faster. Erick did his thing on the first verse tho. “How can a nigga do his homework when his mom’s on crack? / How can I produce a record that be equal to that?” Zombie Juice is on the next verse. Honestly, his verse was pretty underwhelming. He wasn’t really saying anything. It didn’t even really even seem like he was trying tho. It wasn’t horrible. It just wasn’t that good. Issa Gold’s on the third verse. It’s dope. Same goes for AK on the fourth verse. AK’s flow is great on this track. At this point, four out of five MCs have already spit they verse. I’m only three and a half minutes in tho. I’m only halfway through the song. Is Meechy Darko’s verse really that long? Why the fuck is this shit seven minutes? Alright, his verse ends at 4:38. It was dope and everything, but that means that the last two and a half minutes is literally just a repeating sample of Carl Sagan’s old ass saying “it seems madness to say.” This drawn out outro is completely unnecessary. Espa sings a short bridge on the outro, and then you hear nothing but “It’s my belief” and fuckin’ “It seems madness to say.” It’s so anoying. I’m gonna have to fade this shit out in GarageBand. They had the perfect opportunity to cut this shit off at 6:00. The last minute is just Carl Sagan. What the fuck? Why did they do that? Why the fuck would you do that? There is absolutely no reason for this song to be this long… I do like it tho… I’m just gonna have to make an abridged version with GarageBand. It’s a dope song. It probably would’ve been dope af if it was shorter and Juice tried a little harder. It is what it is tho. I still fuck with the song. 4/5

Track 2: LUAM

Damn. I could tell that this was about to be hard af when I heard the primary loop, but the drums are actually a lot more hard-hitting than I expected them to be. This beat is dope af. Issa Gold’s on the first verse. He’s just rapping about doing a fuck load of drugs with some chick. It’s not the most interesting topic, but he does it pretty well. “Feel the drugs run through your carcass.” His verse was pretty good. Meechy Darko & Erick are on the hook. It’s cool. I like Meechy’s part a little more, but Erick’s is still nice. Meechy’s on the second verse, and it’s pretty dope. His flow was nice. AK’s goin’ in now, and just like on the previous track, he has the best flow on the whole song. All Juice does on this song is spit a three bar bridge. He hasn’t really had a huge presence on this project so far. He’ll probably come hard on one of the next tracks. I like this song. It’s not amazing, but it’s cool. The topic isn’t super interesting to me, but it’s cool I guess. If you just wanna hear some dope MCs spittin’ about being at a crazy party with sex and drugs over a Trap-inspired beat, this is perfect for you. This is dope to me. I fuck with this. 4/5

Track 3: XYNO

This beat kinda sounds like a Hip Hop version of a Horror movie soundtrack. I guess that just means it sounds like a Horrorcore beat. It’s dope af. Erick’s on the hook. It’s decent. Okay, Meechy’s goin’ in now. His verse was dope I guess. It definitely wasn’t bad, but it’s not that memorable either. It’s cool tho. I guess. Erick’s on the second verse. Pretty much everything I said about Meechy Darko’s verse could be said about Erick’s verse. AK’s up next. He probably has the best verse so far just because of his flow. He obviously has the best flow out of everyone in Clockwork Indigo. Juice’s goin’ in right now, and his flow is actually dope too. His verse was pretty good. Issa Gold goes last and he probably has the best verse. This song isn’t amazing, but I fuck with it. The hook definitely gets old after a while. The verses are pretty short, and Erick recites the hook, which is 8 bars, after all of them. He probably should’ve just spit the hook once before the first verse, and a second time at the end. Maybe once in the middle. The beat is dope af, but it just doesn’t seem to fit with the other verses. It sounds really dark, but the verses don’t really have the same vibe. They’re just rappin’ about what they usually rap about. They should’ve been rappin’ about murdering people and robbing stores and shit. The verses weren’t gritty enough for this beat. Even their deliveries didn’t really fit over this beat. It’s not that bad, but I feel like they could’ve done a better job with that stuff. I still like the song despite all those problems. It’s dope. 4/5

Track 4: Benefit Concert

Oh fuuuuuuuuuuck… This beat is fucking incredible. Meechy Darko’s on the hook. Okay, they’re basically describing their ideal concert. I don’t really like going to concerts because I hate people, but I can still appreciate this song. Yeah, Meechy’s talkin’ about mosh pits. Fuck that shit. Keep your fuckin’ hands the fuck away from me. That sounds like a nightmare. I would hate to be in a mosh pit. I do not understand that shit. Nothing about that shit is appealing to me. The hook is dope tho. This is easily the best hook on the project so far. Issa Gold’s on the first verse. “I hate when a nigga ain’t wit’ it / Come stand front stage at one of our shows / Better get back before you get attacked by the pack of the wolves.” Apparently if I go to a Clockwork Indigo concert, I’ll be eaten by wolves. That’s definitely something I’d like to avoid, so I don’t think I’ll be going to one of their concerts anytime soon. Or any concert at all for that matter. Issa’s verse was cool. After Issa’s finished, Meechy spits 8 bars, then Erick does the same, and then Meechy goes back in for another 8 bars. Erick’s flow was dope. Meech did his thing. AK’s goin’ in now. He apparently hasn’t been sober in over two years. His verse was cool. Juice did his thing too. He had kind of a sporadic delivery, but it’s not that big of a deal. I fuck with this, but it’s not amazing. This is just another good track. The topic isn’t exactly relatable, but it’s still an entertaining song. All of the MCs did a pretty good job with the topic. It’s dope. 4/5

Track 5: System

Yes. This beat is fucking great. This is easily the best beat on the whole project so far. I think that’s a guitar. I don’t usually like stringed instruments, but it sounds like there’s some reverb or some other effect on it to make it sound a little softer. If there isn’t, then I have no idea what the fuck I’m talking about. Erick’s on the hook. It’s cool. He’s singing, and it’s not very good. It’s not horrible tho. It definitely could’ve been worse. It’s not bad. It’s just not good. Issa’s on the first verse. “No Khaled, we the best.”

AK goes in right behind Issa Gold with no hook recital. They both had dope verses. What the hell? The song just ended. This is basically just an Underachievers song with Erick Arc Elliott on the production & hook. That’s not really a problem I guess. This is the shortest track on the project. I feel like they could’ve squeezed two more verses in there before the song got old, but it is what it is. I fuck with this song. This song is dope. The Underachievers did they thing, and the beat is dope af. The hook could’ve been better—or nonexistant—and they probably could’ve fit at least one more verse in, but I still fuck with this. This is dope. 4/5

Final Thoughts:

That was dope. This is just a collection of five good songs. It never reaches the “dope af” status (except the beats), but at the same time it never hits the “wack” or “average” statuses either. Does that make sense? These are all good songs, but they never really hit that next level. I feel like they can do better than this if they try really hard. This project was just promotion for their tour tho, so I guess they weren’t focused on making incredible music. It really seems like they were just having fun making this shit. There’s no shame in that. It’s still a dope EP. It’s definitely better than the last EP I heard… Anyway, if you’re a fan of that whole “BEAST COAST” movement, then there’s no reason for you to not check this shit out. Don’t expect to be blown away. Just expect a handful of entertaining songs. Maybe you’ll be blown away by the production. The production was dope af. The Architect did a good ass job with these beats. If you’ve never heard any of these motherfuckers’ music, you should probably start with Indigoism for The Underachievers. I can’t really say shit about that tho because that’s really the only project I’ve heard from them. For Flatbush Zombies, I would check out the shit they released for their Day Of The Dead series, and then go check out Better Off Dead. This is definitely a good project tho. I fuck with this EP. It’s dope.

Favorite Song: The Butterfly Effect

Least Favorite Song: Benefit Concert

Verdict:

80%

Tell me if I’m trippin’ in the comments below

If you enjoyed this article, share it on Twitter & Facebook

Watch the video below for more thoughts on this project

Follow me on Twitter: @OGNickMarsh