https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/cocamania/id1074397064
MC Cam Archer and producer OhGoshLeotus’ 2016 release, Cocamania, is a timely brew of nerdcore hip-hop and futuristic electronica from Cali’s Inland Empire. Leotus’ smooth keys, crisp drums and soaring synths professionalize the hell out of the Sober in Stone x Sober‘s already standout songcraft and MCing. I’ve been known to call Cam Archer the “best enunciator in the I.E.” but this record shows how he is already more and reveals his potential as beyond even that. I used to be put off by the content of his work – braggadocio about sexual conquest and being doper than you – until I heard the whole record in-depth which illuminated a hunger, an earnest expression of both a dark side and a desire for success and life’s finer things. Yeah, I want loftier topics but I’ll take someone honest about what they want from the world over another wannabe third-eye-open rapper any day and given the chance Archer gets Shakespearean with it.
MC Cam Archer and producer OhGoshLeotus’ 2016 release, Cocamania, is a timely brew of nerdcore hip-hop and futuristic electronica from Cali’s Inland Empire. Leotus’ smooth keys, crisp drums and soaring synths professionalize the hell out of the Sober in Stone x Sober‘s already standout songcraft and MCing. I’ve been known to call Cam Archer the “best enunciator in the I.E.” but this record shows how he is already more and reveals his potential as beyond even that. I used to be put off by the content of his work – braggadocio about sexual conquest and being doper than you – until I heard the whole record in-depth which illuminated a hunger, an earnest expression of both a dark side and a desire for success and life’s finer things. Yeah, I want loftier topics but I’ll take someone honest about what they want from the world over another wannabe third-eye-open rapper any day and given the chance Archer gets Shakespearean with it.
"Will Smith with a Carlton Complexion..."
True to hip-hop’s roots as a way for folks in forgotten
urban decay zones to create a rhetorical armor for themselves, the San
Bernardino-based Archer speaks on everything from getting into comic books as a
youth, feeling suicidal, seducing MILFs on carnival cruises, doing shrooms and
hanging tough with his crew. He raps about using his darkness and anger for
fuel, of being overlooked and of being the best.
Leotus and super-talented singer / vocalist K.I.T. help Cam
paint his soulful and electronic picture of the I.E. almost as Freudian
avatars: OhGosh as the id and K.I.T. the ego to Cam’s super-ego. Seemingly tightly structured rap songs will
become electronic meditation jams with K.I.T.’s melodic narration of Cam’s
inner-dialogue gradually being spit at comparable double-time to Cam’s own
flow. It’s a rewarding development of what the verses are on the surface aided
greatly by the fact that all the stops were pulled out as Leotus crafted the
crystal clear sound engineering and production layering of this
record.
Cam is quick to dismiss the uncool kids and whack MCs as he
reveals his own duality: the idea of "mania" is both a play on the kind of fan
reaction performing artists hope to engender as well as a kind of psychosis
that can affect the sharpest artistic minds, like Archer, haunted by the
non-stop nature of a poetic consciousness. The idea of “Nirvana” as something
desirable but also melancholy in its elusiveness. Archer says this duality
can be compared to Hamlet- to be (responsible), or not to be? To be (someone
who lives up to their obviously great potential) or to be a hedonist? Or why
not both? In Archer’s Inland Empire…these are the questions.
"Down in the Dino they know I'm the shit"
I have to admit a bias against songs that propagate
materialistic fantasies but “5.0” is presented in such an earnest way it’s hard
to resist it. Not only is the beat a banger but the song is still grounded in
the Inland Empire and is charmingly honest about the speaker’s desire for many
of life’s finer things. This is counter-intuitive but the more I understand the
sincerity of this theme in Inland Empire originated music, the more okay I am
with its repetition.
"Don't get caught in the life"
"Springyard Nights" is a chill masterpiece with smooth yet
hard-hitting rhymes and a killer bassline. OhGoshLeotus produces the majority
of the album and his influence on the quality of the project cannot be
overstated: he brings to the table a professionalism and sense of melody that would help any
serious artist produce a good album. Archer does not waste this, fully
embracing the I.E. Odd-Future potential of blending his airtight spits with
singers like K.I.T. and Natalie Sings over Leotus’ electronic explorations of
funky yet soulful synths and rhythm. Even lighthearted songs like “Sailor Moon”
turn new leaves mid-track into melancholy piano droplets- Leotus and Archer
reminding you they have much to show you and limited time. Like the best
moments of Channel Orange which it
reminds me of, the album’s sound is a remarkable and catchy blend of nostalgic
tunefulness and hard-hitting modernity.
The formula is consistent but never boring- much of the time
Cam, K.I.T. and Leotus sound like a band, attacking each song from their
respective angle. “Let Me Know” is a chill and introspective reprieve that says
more about Archer’s persona on the album than the girls the character speaks
to. “Darkhaired Girls” is a nice continuation of the chill begun by “Let Me
Know” but more epic and R&B inflected, riding off of the turn of the
century-based sample from “Better Off Alone”. The closer “Good Night & Good
Luck” is a standout, stepping up the energy and double-time, interrupting the more relaxed second half of the album. The final track, an 8-bit romp with fellow
Over Everything member C.J. Westley with production from Leotus, is a fitting blend of the smart flexing and nerdcore that represent the record.
"Tight Rope Balance / Flying Grayson Talent"
What is the Cocamania? Archer says “C.O.C.A.” is “Chronicles of Cam Archer”. When asked if that combined with the
comic book style cover art (also by K.I.T.) was Riddick-inspired, he explained that it’s more about
vulnerability. So what is the the mania?
Ambition tempered with insecurity? The inability to be vulnerable
comfortably? The way women react to Archer? An updated black pride? As a listener, I would say it’s all
of the above mixed with a little American dream and class struggle thrown in for good measure and realness. Don’t
sleep; it’s Coca.
Tristan "Tanjint Wiggy" Acker is a staff writer for JooseBoxx, youth hip-hop writing instructor with CHORDS Enrichment Youth Program (chordseyp.org) and member of the Inland Empire nerdcore hip-hop group the West Coast Avengers. Catch more of their work at westcoastavengers.com, follow Tristan on Twitter @Tanjint or e-mail him at tristanacker@gmail.com.
