Welcome to the Afterfuture is a blender of sounds and styles and epitomizes the search that is leading cutting-edge hip-hop further into avant-garde and non-Western musical traditions. 'Airwave Hysteria' has a sweet Bollywood sample with a tight chorus broken up by some hypnotic scratching. Welcome to the Afterfuture lyrics: 3:34: Mike Ladd-12: Wipe Out on the Wave of Armageddon lyrics: 4:15: Mike Ladd-13: Feb. 4 '99 (For All Those Killed by Cops) For All Killed by Cops lyrics: 5:15: Mike Ladd. Listen to Welcome to the Afterfuture by Mike Ladd - Welcome to the Afterfuture. Deezer: free music streaming. Discover more than 56 million tracks, create your own playlists, and share your favourite tracks with your friends.
| Welcome to the Afterfuture | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 7, 2000 | |||
| Genre | Hip hop | |||
| Length | 62:39 | |||
| Label | Ozone Music | |||
| Producer |
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| Mike Ladd chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Welcome to the Afterfuture | ||||
Welcome to the Afterfuture is a studio album by American hip hop musician Mike Ladd. It was released on Ozone Music in 2000.
Critical reception[edit]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | [1] |
| CMJ New Music Monthly | favorable[2] |
| Pitchfork | 8.6/10[3] |
Brian Whitener of AllMusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, writing, 'Welcome to the Afterfuture is a blender of sounds and styles and epitomizes the search that is leading cutting-edge hip-hop further into avant-garde and non-Western musical traditions.'[1] Jon Caramanica of CMJ New Music Monthly commented that 'Ladd's futurism is merely a mask for his very tangible discontent with the present.'[2] He added, 'References to the police state permeate the album, arguing that the new world order and newspeak are more than just things weeded street-corner bards philosophize on; they're integral to maintaining the power status quo.'[2]
Legacy[edit]
The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[4]
Track listing[edit]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | '5000 Miles West of the Future' | 3:48 |
| 2. | 'Airwave Hysteria' | 4:09 |
| 3. | 'Planet 10' | 4:25 |
| 4. | 'Takes More Than 41' | 3:01 |
| 5. | 'Bladerunners' (featuring Company Flow) | 6:17 |
| 6. | 'No. 1 St.' | 3:52 |
| 7. | 'To the Moon's Contractor' | 10:36 |
| 8. | 'I Feel Like $100' | 3:45 |
| 9. | 'The Animist' | 5:52 |
| 10. | 'Red Eye to Jupiter (Starship Nigga)' | 3:50 |
| 11. | 'Welcome to the Afterfuture' | 3:34 |
| 12. | 'Wipe Out on the Wave of Armageddon' | 4:15 |
| 13. | 'Feb. 4 '99 (For All Those Killed by Cops)' | 5:15 |
Personnel[edit]
Credits adapted from liner notes.
- Mike Ladd – vocals, bass guitar (8), synthesizer, sampler, production, programming, mixing, executive production
- Bruce Grant – tape loop
- Fred Ones – turntables (1-4, 6-13), production (4), recording (1-4, 6, 8-13), mixing (1-4, 6, 8-13)
- Jun – vocal recording (1, 4)
- El-P – vocals (5)
- Bigg Jus – vocals (5)
- Mr. Len – turntables (5)
- Vassos – recording (5), mixing (5)
- Charles Calello – keyboards (7)
- Matt Stein – recording (7), mixing (7)
- Jeff Cordero – guitar (8)
- Eric M.O. – bass guitar (10)
- Ken Heitmuller – mastering
- Prashant – art direction, design, photography
- Mark Feggins – layout assistance
- Tony Duval – photography
- Amaechi Uzoigwe – executive production
References[edit]
- ^ abWhitener, Brian. 'Welcome to the Afterfuture - Mike Ladd'. AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
- ^ abcCaramanica, Jon (June 2000). 'Best New Music'. CMJ New Music Monthly (82): 26.
- ^P., Ethan (March 7, 2000). 'Mike Ladd: Welcome to the Afterfuture'. Pitchfork. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
- ^Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (23 March 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN978-0-7893-2074-2.
External links[edit]
- Welcome to the Afterfuture at Discogs (list of releases)
Welcome To The Afterfuture
This is the second album I've been forced to purchase for this project. It seems Mike Ladd is not interested in letting people hear his music for free for some reason, so it's not on rdio.com. At least I got my copy used at an extreme discount. I have no idea who Mike Ladd is or what kind of music he plays.
Welcome To The Afterfuture
Sigh... Hip-hop. I don't know if I have the energy to do another rant on hip-hop, so I might just have to let Mike Ladd off easy.
The first two songs on the album have identical beats, and very similar electric synthesized instrumentation. I do like the eastern influences on 'Airline Hysteria' that appear in an interesting breakdown section. So far I'm convinced Mike Ladd could compose a neat electronic soundtrack for a bleak science fiction movie. I wish he wasn't doing it with samples and digital vinyl-scratches, but for a hip-hop album I'm definitely not hating it.
Oh my god, I'm getting soft. I need something to stir me up a bit. 'Bladerunners' will do nicely. I didn't realize that cheesy sci-fi movie from the early 80s was mostly about vaginas. Seriously, I think the first verse uses 58 different euphemisms for lady parts. Later verses do a few name drops from Bladerunner. I have no idea if they're in context or anything, because like any rap artist the words come out too fast for me to process them.
I caught one part talking about going to college, and then suing cigarette companies for getting him addicted, then how when he shaves his head he looks like Mr. Clean, but he don't wear no earings. Does that make any sense? This happens a lot in rap music. I feel like I'm being Gish-galloped into oblivion. The rapper is on about one point and spittin' and flowin' about some bitch he wants to smack, then in the middle of a sentence he changes the subject to talk about his cat and smoking weed. I guess if you are smoking that much weed it's tough to keep focus.
I liked the long instrumental 'To The Moon's Contractor'. It was 10 minutes long and was mostly a repeated loop with crunchy samples over top. But in the spirit of this being an electronic sci-fi soundtrack, my mind took it as level music for a video game. I could see 'To The Moon's Contractor' easily fitting into parts of Half-Life or the like.
Anyway, I enjoyed Welcome to the Afterfuture during it's spacy sci-fi elements. There were plenty of dumb rap cliches and horrifically chopped up samples, but I didn't find it offensive like most hip-hop albums I've heard. I probably will try to resell the CD I bought, but I'll consider not deleting the MP3s I made. 3 stars.