Track-by-Track Review: Vodka & Ayahuasca

In the wake of Watch the Throne, it seems like everyone in hip-hop is trying to grab a friend and make a collaborative project, Drake and Rick Ross are planning their YOLO project, J Cole says he’s working on something with Kendrick Lamar, and T.I. and Young Jeezy have hinted at a joint record as well. Whether or not any of these projects will actually ever be recorded is up for debate, but in the meantime, Oh No and The Alchemist (who together go by the name “Gangrene”) have dropped what I hope is a contender for the best post-WTT collaboration thus far, “Vodka & Ayahuasca” (unless any of you were really feeling that Gucci Mane/V-Nasty tape).

1. Intro (The Mixings)

Produced by Oh No

After doing a bit of Wikipedia research, I found out that Ayahuasca is a South American hallucinogen that causes intense vomiting, so maybe that’s why this intro track includes a recording of someone puking. Why Gangrene decided to name their record after this concoction is beyond me, but they’re making it clear right out of the gate that this is going to be beyond-bizarre album. Also, vomit-noises are arguably the worst way you could start an album.

2. Gladiator Music

Featuring Kool G Rap; Produced by Oh No

This first track sounds like something that RZA would make on his weirdest day (in a good way). The beat heaves up and down behind a drugged-up horn sample that is a big departure from the bass and snare heavy sound that been dominating radio-rap for a few years now. The track features verses from both members of Gangrene and Kool G Rap, and all three fill their verses with Wu-Tang style absurd threats (“I’m Kool-Aid Man comin’ through your fuckin’ wall”). This track is grimy as hell and it’s great, they should have skipped the freaky intro and just started off the album like this.

3. Flame Throwers

Produced by Oh No

Oh No’s beat has my head nodding almost immediately and he and The Alchemist trade verses back and forth until a context-less vocal sample cuts in, reminding me once again of the Wu and the kung-fu film samples that they love so much. But this technique also reminds me of something that MF DOOM would do, another underground rap legend who has worked with Oh No’s brother Madlib.

4. Drink Up

Featuring Roc Marciano; Produced by Alchemist

Even though both members of Gangrene are from California, the rapping on this record is without question New York influenced, and to keep this sound going Long Island up-and-comer Roc Marciano is brought in. This is lyrical but definitely not conscious hip-hop.

5. Auralac Bags

Produced by Oh No

Oh No has released a number of beat tapes that sometimes suffer from being just too left-field and abstract, but it seems like working with Alchemist grounds him in reality just enough to make tracks like this. This song’s hook goes after rappers with empty lyrics, “Ya’ll ain’t really saying nothing, I dare ya’ll to try and say something.” Ironically, this points out the one major fault of “Vodka & Ayahuasca.” The lyrics all sound pretty awesome, but the subject matter never really extends beyond getting high or threatening people.

6. Vodka & Ayahuasca

Produced by Oh No

The album’s title track brings in a bizarre collection of samples that include an evil laugh, a guitar solo, robot noises, random yelling, and a bit of feedback among other things. All of these sounds go off at once about halfway through the song. At this point in the recording process, it seems like Gangrene are seeing how much they can freak us out and it’s starting to distract from the music.

7. Dump Truck

Featuring Prodigy; Produced by Alchemist

This song has one of the strangest ad-lib’s that I’ve ever heard; someone just starts saying “scientology” a few times before the first verse starts. This is Alchemist’s second production on the record and so far, Oh No is managing to outshine him pretty thoroughly. I never thought that would happen, usually anything that Alchemist touches is fire. I mean, the song isn’t bad or anything, but I had higher hopes for a track featuring a Prodigy verse.

8. Due Work

Produced by Alchemist

As soon as I speak ill of him, Alchemist comes through and makes a fool of me. This is a pretty standard song compared to the rest of the album and that makes it stand out even more as a great piece of pure hip-hop. Alchemist also comes through with some absurd food-based bragging (once again like the Wu). “Me and the gutter go together like bread with the peanut butter,” and “More flavors than Ben & Jerry’s my pen is scary.”

9. Odds Cracked

Produced by Oh No

I could just imagine these two beat makers going back and forth in the lab, “That was pretty dope, but check this out.” Right after Alchemist redeems himself with a hot beat, Oh No brings something even hotter. The only way you’re not nodding to this is if your neck is broken. Again, this part of the album is staying away from the freaky shit that held it back previously.

10. Top Instructors

Produced by Oh No

Another solid track, and Oh No and Alchemist both spit decent enough verses, but nothing about this song sets it above the rest of the record. Kind of feels like filler.

11. Dark Shades

Featuring Evidence & Roc C; Produced by The Alchemist

The guitar riff that gets the track going sounds distinctly like something The Alchemist would dig up, but it’s also the backbone of an absolutely terrible hook about rock and roll and sunglasses. This is the worst song on the album and it ends with a recording of a drunk guy arguing with a cop.

12. The Groove

Produced by Oh No

Like Top Instructors this is another song that is just solid. Oh No’s verse sounds kind of bored, but Alchemist does come through with one of his best verses on the record. In general, it seems like the album is winding down.

13. Livers for Sale

Produced by The Alchemist

The uplifting, inspirational strings here don’t really mesh with what Gangrene are rapping about (money, blunts, black-market organ sales), and this song never really settles into anything compelling. A more menacing/harder beat would have worked a lot better.

14. Outro (The Downsides)

Produced by The Alchemist

Just a weird outro, you’re not missing much if you skip this.

Bottom Line: These two hip-hop experimentalists are definitely carving out their own lane with this one. There are inconsistent parts of the record, mostly when some odd sample gets distracting, but overall this is a solid underground rap record, at its best, this record goes hard and the rapping is all grimy Gotham classicism. It’s probably hard to focus if these guys consume even a quarter of the hallucinogens that they talk about on this record, but if they could have managed a couple of good edits, they could have brought this record up to the next level. The whole thing seems very influenced by the Wu-Tang Clan and that’s never a problem, when a lot of New York’s rising rappers sound more southern than east-coast (A$AP Rocky, Smoke DZA), it’s nice to hear from someone who’s keeping some of that Shaolin sound alive.