by Dan O

All the acclaimed names of brilliant musicians who lost their minds and said too much…none of them launched themselves so perpetually into the spiked abyss with this focus.

When Lamon insults the world it feels like toxic spill over from the dangerous materials he dumps on himself. When he delivers a hook he doesn’t aim to croon, or even earwig catchy phrases you’ll repeat as you clean. Lamon Manuel states and restates emphatically, with precise diction and focus. It’s almost as if the mission is to become the voice in your head. On In The Worst Places with The Best People “It’s pretty lonely at the bottom and the middle too” gets repeated building off the Lonely At The Top phrase (that I always associate with Randy Newman). It builds until at the songs end Lamons voice cuts through his own and asks where it isn’t lonely. You could say it’s the meaning of the song but I have a strange counter notion. I think any point in a Lamon Manuel song can lead you to the meaning of the song. On N.W.N.Y. the bar “anniversary of my personalities cuckolding each other,” hits hard. It’s the doorway to the whole journey but you could get there from “She loves Bukowski but hates when I drink too much…” These two songs are jammed with lines that burn a hole through your existing train of thought (see three more below):

“Honest, I only want to marry my ex to get my books back.”

“Playing whose funerals first, I bet me.”

“We don’t have to get along, to shout out the same dead friends in a song.”

I don’t think I’ve heard anyone like Lamon Manuel. Not in Rap, not elsewhere. All the acclaimed names of brilliant musicians who lost their minds and said too much…none of them launched themselves so perpetually into the spiked abyss with this focus. I remember when he got mad at me online once and I was immediately and overwhelmingly giddy. To disappoint someone at this level of righteous dissatisfaction this gleaming level of dark hostility was like holding a tennis racket and looking across the court at Federer. I had no choice but to put the racket down. I do not share the state of mind Lamon does but I’ll confess that sometimes I get too comfortable. Too happy. Lamon always hits so hard and lets me know how thin comfort is to stand on. I need as much as I can get.

Buy these songs below:

https://lamonmanuel.bandcamp.com/album/no-better-rapper-alive-just-better-men-outlived