This EP was released for free on March 22nd this year. I’m going into this project completely blind. I’ve never heard any of They Hate Change’s music, and I barely know anything about them. The only thing I know is that they’re an experimental rap duo signed to Deathbomb Arc, which is pretty much the quintessential label for experimental Hip Hop and music in general. The two members of the duo are Andre Gainey & Vonne. I’m not sure if they’re both rappers or if one of them is a rapper and the other is a producer. I’m just gonna assume that they’re both rappers and producers until someone tells me otherwise. I didn’t see any outside producers credited. Obviously since I don’t even know who these guys are I don’t have any expectations. I really hope this isn’t trash, but I doubt that’ll be the case. I usually like Deathbomb Arc shit.

1. Melt

Okay, right away I can already tell y’all I absolutely love the production on this track. I don’t know either of them by their voices, so I couldn’t tell you who that is rapping on the first verse. The lyrics are pretty relatable though.

If I blew my fuckin’ brains out my dome
You wouldn’t know it ’cause I’m not important
Should I even export it when it’s over?
Used to brag ’bout bein’ sober

This song isn’t really that experimental. The production kinda sounds like something I’d hear from an Electronic artist signed to Brainfeeder. I’m pretty sure I only heard one rapper on this track. I guess one of the members is the producer, and the other is the rapper. I may be wrong about that though. Anyway, I really like this track. The production is great, and I liked the verse a lot too. This is dope.

2. Taster’s

This beat is a lot weirder than the previous one. It’s really cool. It’s kinda hard to hear what the rapper is saying though. I can’t tell if it’s a problem with the mixing or if it’s just the way his voice is. There’s definitely more than one MC on this track. Well… Not “definitely.” It sounds like there’s more than one to me. Man, I can barely make out any of the lyrics. I’m still enjoying this though. I don’t know what they’re saying, but they’ve got some really dope flows and I love the production. I really wish they would’ve released the lyrics since I don’t know what they’re saying. They only have one song on Genius, and it doesn’t even look like it’s fully transcribed. Whatever. I know some people don’t really care about what they’re saying and just wanna listen for the sound, but personally lyrics are really important when I’m trying to enjoy music, especially Hip Hop. I can still enjoy the song though. It’s good enough sonically for me to come back to it. This is dope.

3. Tabs

This song has another good beat. The lyrics are kinda hard to understand on this track, but it’s not as bad as it was on the previous one. He said something about looking for a place to have dinner. He doesn’t fuck with Olive Garden apparently. I don’t think I’ve ever actually been to Olive Garden. I think my sister really likes it though. Anyway, the first verse was cool. I think that’s Andre Gainey on the hook & second verse. He said the name “Dre.” So the one with the slightly higher voice is Andre. Cool. Got it. Anyway, this is another cool song. Nothing about it really stands out that much to be honest, but I definitely enjoyed it to some extent. Their flows on both of the verses were cool, and I like the production. This is another good song.

4. Skull

The beat on this track is really cool. Hmm… I’m not really crazy about Andre’s delivery on this first verse. Well, it’s only the first couple of lines that rubbed me the wrong way. He had a somewhat melodic delivery, and it didn’t sound very good to me. The rest of the verse is fine though. That might actually be Vonne on the first verse. I’m not exactly sure. Anyway, the verse was cool. That line where he likened yellow bars of Xanax to school buses was cool. Whoever was on the second verse did a decent job. I think that was Vonne. None of his lines really stood out to me. I like this song about as much as the previous one. The beat was definitely the best aspect of the song to me. The two verses were cool too though. This is another good song.

5. Clearwater

This song has another cool beat. The production on this project kinda reminds me of the lighter instrumentals on JPEGMAFIA’s Veteran album—particularly songs like Thug Tears. This song probably has my favorite beat so far. I think that’s Vonne on the first verse—again, I might be wrong about that. His flow is dope as hell on this track though. He killed that shit. There’s really only one verse. This is the most impressive song on the whole project to me. I liked the production a lot, and the rapper’s flow was really nice. This shit is dope.

This EP is really good. I wanna say this was a pretty good introduction to their music, but at the same time I can’t really say that because I don’t know how it compares to the rest of their material. I enjoyed this project though. There’s not a single song I disliked. As of 2:27 AM on April 19th of 2019, I have never heard a bad They Hate Change song. To be fair, I’ve also only heard 5 good They Hate Change songs. You can choose which one of those perspectives you wanna take more seriously. Anyway, I’ll definitely be checking for their future releases. I just hope I become more familiar with the members of the duo. I’d like to be able to know which one of them is rapping as I’m listening. This is a good EP though. I like it. It’s dope.

Favorite Song: Clearwater
Least Favorite Song: Skull

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