Last month, 2011's breakout indie rapper Danny Brown sat down with Impose magazine after being named their rapper of the year. When asked who his favorite rap act of 2011 had been, he named Bay Area duo Main Attrakionz, whose prolific output and undaunted adoption of the burgeoning "cloud rap" sub-genre has earned them a growing profile and a diverse collection of fans. "They talking street shit," Brown explained of Squadda B and MondreM.A.N., "but they talking it over those trippy-ass, cloudy-ass beats." The co-sign still felt a little surprising: On one hand, anyone who has heard 808s & Dark Grapes II, the group's most notable release to date, knows how easily pleasing their half-baked creations can be. But on the other, for a guy like Brown-- whose wildman persona is often one of his great draws on record-- putting on for two guys who are often criticized for both not having a ton of personality, and sometimes being unable to think outside of their own little box, seemed somewhat incongruent.
Take for instance last year's I Smoke Because I Don't Care About Death, the excellently titled but not totally memorable solo mixtape from Squadda B, which featured a smattering of awfully cloudy tracks that found a guy sounding so comfortable in his own lane, it seemed as if he'd never get over. Which is why Back $ellin' Crack, which squeaked in right before 2011's final bell rang, may provide some clues as to why we might be seeing more straightforward music coming from the Main Attrakionz camp in the new year. Just looking at that borderline-NSFW album cover above, it's clear that Back $ellin' Crack is not strictly another cloud-rap affair. Instead, Squadda has crafted a mixtape's mixtape, with strong, varied production styles that could complement any assortment of rappers. And while unsurprisingly lacking in content-rich lyricism, this center-of-left approach proves to be a step in the right direction, with Squadda's oddball tendencies and workmanlike demeanor still intact.
There is a lot of personality to be found on Back $ellin' Crack, but it's helpful that, working outside of his normal routine, Squadda never appears to feel the need to play keep-up or bend to the will of a beat. "Down", which features barn-burning verses from MA affiliate Shady Blaze and Danny Brown himself, is probably most indicative of Squadda's focus here. Some rappers would feel hard-pressed to set off the double-time fireworks just to remain visible, but his ability to play the background and let others shine where applicable (one of the benefits of normally having to share the spotlight with another MC) is a real asset. Which isn't to say that he's using the rest of his time here most wisely: "Rapgame", which boasts some Supreme Clientele-grade silkiness, finds Squadda both reflective and funny ("Wonder if they think I'm lyin' about the shit I spit/ Can I at least get a chance to start lyin' about shit?"), while "Van Halen" opens with some weirdly appealing, atonal singsong rap. But most fun of all might be "The Greenova Way", with its Looney Tuned-up beat (courtesy of Squadda himself) allowing him to playfully jab at the pigeonholers: "They call it cloud rap/ Wanna see me? Then look up!"
But not all of Back $ellin' Crack is nearly as effective. The second half of the tape, which heavily features MondreM.A.N., feels too safe compared to the material that preceded it. None of it really has anything to do with Mondre's presence, nor the way Squadda and he sound on these tracks together-- in fact, stuff like "Conversations Pt. II" makes for a solid entry in the Main Attrakionz catalog. But in context, it's a step backward, especially considering how much effort Squadda has put into taking the duo's established sound and repurposing it for audiences more drawn to conventional approaches. By the time "Cream Soda" shows up-- which unfortunately finds Squadda rapping over Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" (what Frank Ocean hath wrought!)-- there's a distinct sense that Back $ellin' Crack's ambition has dried up.
Stick around though, because there's still the two-part, seven-and-a-half-minute opus "Hail Squadda" to feast on. Combining the warped, crystalline lean-back synths of producer Marlee B's opening portion (complete with a creeped-out repurposing of the "Hail Mary" chorus) with Status Star's thunderous finale, Danny Brown's prediciton becomes even clearer: "You could totally put that shit over a Lex Lugar beat and it'd be a fucking street song." It's some seriously tough stuff, and even further proof that when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
