Different and weird without trying

Prescience is dubstep (dyslexic, bass-heavy, two-step hip-hop beats) met with the ramblings of a Sacramento madman named DefEye. The album’s mood is dreamlike and meditative, in a confusing way. Chicago’s DJ Rise handles production keenly, with fully imagined and gritty execution (sometimes with an introduction, climax and resolution all within the span of one bar), while DefEye’s lyrics (“You can’t soundproof your clown suit”) are intelligently psychedelic. The album’s pace, which goes from slow to slower, rarely changes, so if you’re expecting a high-energy dance album, go to Miami. While the track “D.J.” is one of the dirtiest, most sinister cuts (in a good way) on the album, “Big Boy,” with minimalist production and a unique brand of turntablism, has enough momentum and personality to be a lost Living Legends cut. Hip-hop, a genre that’s eating itself alive, is in desperate need for something different and weird, and, in the end, Prescience is different and weird without trying too hard to be different and weird.