Sicko Mobb - "Super Saiyan Vol. 2"

[StevePulaski]

Super Saiyan Vol. 2 (2015)
By: Sicko Mobb

Rating: ★★★

Give Sicko Mobb - the Chicago-based bop duo of Lil Ceno and Lil Trav - some legitimate credit before you begin criticizing their excessive use of autotune; they have single-handedly mastered the art of some of the strangest, but most unique-sounding rap that you can find in the current, oversaturated market. Sicko is responsible for some of the downright weirdest sounds in rap music today; just their smash single "Fiesta," which, I still claim, is one of rap's best songs of this decade, and you'll see the true craziness of their style and the unabashed pride they take in their music.

While their debut mixtape Super Saiyan Vol. 1 was only a fair representation of their talent, Super Saiyan Vol. 2, though longer and more driven on exploring and tampering with the bop genre, is a more refined look into Sicko's talent as a musical duo. They open with their eponymous track, which picks up right where the first volume in this franchise left off as it revives the fast-paced instrumentation and autotune-drenched vocals to create something totally original.

Songs like "Drugs in Me" and "Own Lane" are briskly paced tracks that provide quite the wallop of style and fun in their lyricism, while tracks like "Kool Aid" are slower-paced tracks that cater to bop's more glacially paced tendencies instead of the traditional breakneck speed the genre is known for. Stranger songs, both in pace and concept, come in the form of "Penny HardAway" and "Orange Flat," simply in the way they carry themselves, defying conventionality in pace and rhyme-scheme, creating something entirely original albeit peculiar.

I was stunned to hear that Sicko Mobb signed to Polo Grounds/RCA, a well-regarded branch of Sony, being that their sound, while so close to the mainstream tastes in respect to repetition and autotune, is just so far from what the public is used to hearing. Super Saiyan Vol. 2 is what happens when energy, adrenaline, and sheer musical inspiration takes over and audiences are left with a mixtape to listen to and just marvel at; if one can excuse the needless interludes and spoken-word tracks, then this becomes an album completed committed to stunning you with over a dozen uniquely composed tracks.

Recommended tracks (in order): "Drugs in Me," "Kool Aid," "Penny HardAway," "Own Lane," and "Mobb."