I first met Buster Wolf in early 2015. He was ripping a show at Liberty Bar(one of the best venues in Tallahassee). What stood out to me immediately about Buster Wolf was his alternative style, his incredible breath control, his high energy, and his gamer influence.From talking to him I gathered that we had a lot of the same musical background. Like me Buster had a firm familiarity with the classic hip-hop albums like the Black Star, Like Water for Chocolate, and Low End Theory. Not only that, he was also familiar with alternatives acts like Cannibal Ox and Doom. So when he told me that he didn’t have a proper full length it was a bit disappointing, but he let me know he was in the process of making a project call Vejigante I was really looking forward to it. Being a man in a mask, we shared a dope conversation about masks. Apparently the Vejigante is a piece of Puerto Rican folklore represented by these brightly colored masks.
So after seeing Buster Wolf open up for KRS-One I was given a “physical” copy of his album Vejigante . The album is on a really cool looking card USB Drive. It was a bit of a hassle trying to figure out how to plug it in, but once I got over that hurdle I will say Buster delivers a pretty robust package. You get a music video, a short film, all the lyrics, custom artwork, and a complete instrumental album. At ten dollars he is practically giving these things away it’s an amazing value.
Article Reading of Buster Wolf – Vejigante – Album Review
But what we really care about is the music and I believe that Vejigante Delivers. Vejigante feels like a latino Madlib produced an album for Aesop Rock. When I listen to the album I feel like I’m on some psychedelic 8-bit adventure though a Puerto Rican slum. The beats are down tempo and smooth for the most part, and there are quite a few instrumental interludes with interesting samples(including non musical ones). These range from punchy vocals, to Hispanic ballots, or even the odd video game sample. “So we sit in allies with evil laughs like kefka” is definitely towards the top of the list of hip-hop quotables I’ve heard this year.
I will say that if you have ever seen Buster Wolf live, don’t come into this album expecting a direct translation of his stage show. I don’t say this to be negative, rather when Buster Wolf performs he stays high energy. The album shows a lot more emotional versatility than I expected going in. We still do see glimpses of his aggressive style in a track like All Chan Everything where Buster is just ripping though the instrumental as fast as words can be spoken. On the other hand a track like Worried Dunks shows Buster performing in a more somber, remorseful tone. Additionally for quite a few songs on this album Buster does some very interesting things with his vocals. The album contains no rap features. That being said you never really feel like your getting bored because Buster does some very interesting dubbed vocals that, at a few points in the album had me questioning whether there was another rapper featured on the track.Buster does a good job of mixing up the instrumental sounds as well. Yes they are mostly mellow but he goes from a song like Dragon Quest which would fit in to any epic video game, to a song like Viaje which could fit into a Tribe Called Quest record and not be questioned.
Overall I would say that I would have to recommend this album for anyone with a love of alternative rap, old school gaming, or intense lyricism. I think anyone with an aversion to lo-fi recordings might have some objections, but its definitely not drastic enough that it starts to hurt the record. I might even add that the lo-fi wound amplifies the ascetic of the album. If any of that peeks your interest like me you will have this album on repeat for weeks.
Pick up the record here – https://louisduluoz.bandcamp.com/
Check out his website here – http://www.ghostfoxmask.com/
That’s all for this review. If you have a album you want to suggest me to review leave a comment or
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