Sheffield, UK-based emcee Kid Acne is a savvy extender of underground hip-hop’s possibilities, teaming once again with Chicago-based producer Spectacular Diagnostics for Null and Void, a 12-track LP driven by deep beats and infused with edgy, echoey flow of the sort that’s bound to please fans of u-ground hip-hop’s salad days. But Kid Acne is also a visual artist focused on illustration and printmaking, with his talents front and center for his latest, as the LP gets tucked inside hand printed sleeves in three limited editions, 75 silver (neon pink vinyl), 150 warm grey (black vinyl), and 100 cool grey (color mix wax, with obi strip). All three are signed and all are available now, fittingly, through Lewis Recordings.
If Kid Acne (birth name Ed Bradbury) is a torch carrier for u-ground hip-hop, it should be clarified that he’s been at it long enough to be considered part of the subterranean subgenre’s renaissance, specifically in Mongrels, the on again-off again duo (with DJ Benjamin Hatton) that debuted in 1997 with the “Slingshots” 7-inch EP and last heard in 2018 on the “Over Eggin’ It” b/w “Shoot the Breeze” 7-inch (which welcomed guests James Williamson from the Sleaford Mods on side A and fellow UK hip-hop figures Cappo and Juga-Naut on the flip).
Along with a half dozen other EPs issued on 7-inch, 10-inch, and 12-inch wax (plus a cassette collaboration with Brit hip-hop act Burgundy Blood), Mongrels released the full-length Attack the Monolith in 2016. But Kid Acne’s been even busier on his own, having completed four LPs (plus a few white label instrumental sets) prior to Null and Void’s emergence last November, with its predecessor Have a Word dating from 2019. And this is to say nothing of the slew of EPs, the numerous guest spots, and the long list of solo art exhibitions.
The long distance collab that shaped Have a Word; again, that’s Kid Acne and beatsmith-producer Spectacular Diagnostics, gets repeated here as Null and Void lacks any tangible pandemic-era concessions. Instead, the reteaming bursts out immediately strong as “Welcome,” the album’s samples-infused intro and trim slice of hip-hop classicism remodeled for the post-underground age, leads straight into the incessant pulsing crunch of “Flame Wars,” where Kid Acne shares the mic with the record’s first guest emcee Taja.
Mentioned in the accompanying PR as “one to watch,” which suggests she’s a newcomer (at least on record), Taja doesn’t sound like a novice as she navigates the track’s menacing thrust without a trace of the tentative. And then for “Lo and Behold” Kid Acne goes it alone, his wordplay kicking into high gear as there’s an adjustment in the foreboding atmosphere, though subtly so.
The vocal sample (lifted from a TV or radio program of some sort) that ends “Lo and Behold” highlights a recurring if not overbearing dissatisfaction with the culture of the internet, even as it’s ambiguous to what extent this facet of Null and Void represents Kid Acne’s own feelings on the matter. Furthermore, there’s the futuristic aura of standout track “Algorithms” to consider, the rhythm at the start sounding like it’s coming from the apartment next door prior to the proper beat dropping in and with the subsequent flow getting nicely spiked with robotic backing voices and injections of dub echo.
“Algorithms” is a hard act to follow, but “Menhir Triptych” hangs in rather well with another huge beat and guest raps from Junior Disprol and Cappo, both welcome additions to a record that’s refreshingly not overloaded with voices. If there was an impulse to invite a bevy of contributors, it was kept in check if not nixed completely, as side two’s opener “Transistors” features rhymes from Jaz Kahina and Vandal Savage, both as solid as the track’s rhythm is slamming.
The norm for Null and Void is Kid Acne going it alone, as on the first side’s closer “Junk Data,” which finds him in a musical setting that’s almost relaxing next to the chilly ominousness in the album’s early moments, yet not mellow; there’s vibraphone, some canned sitar (mildly reminiscent of “Bonita Applebaum”), and even a little techno glitch.
Rife with scratching, “Out Here” is also laden with some of Kid Acne’s best lines, his progression often humorous without slipping into schtick and striking an appealing equilibrium with his stream of references. The namedrops kick up a notch in the electro-flavored “Copesetic,” and with “Neon Fogou,” featuring guest rhymes from Jehst, there’s another downshift with more hovering vibraphone, an incessant trumpet loop, and Spectacular Diagnostics’ effective use of extended unmanipulated spoke samples.
It’s a tactic that opens both penultimate track “Unsubscribe” and finale “Innovate” (which lifts the expository dialogue from David Lynch’s Dune, if I recall correctly), with the rapping and the production (the set’s core strengths) interweaved with confidence as the album nears its close. In summation, don’t get the idea that Null and Void’s edgier excursions are particularly bruising. Rather, the gist overall is invitingly moody, the record benefiting from maturity and restraint further enhanced by the LP’s digestible length. Five albums complete as a solo emcee, and Kid Acne has nothing to prove.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
