March 24, 2011 by Quan Vu
DOWNLOAD: Halon – White Noise
Halon “It Puts The Lotion On The Skin“
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Halon “Searchin For Answers“
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I hope I’ve stayed away from the whole “oh hey a white rapper, he obviously sounds like this other white rapper” thing that lazy critics tend to do. But for Halon, this is actually true. Double true, even. For much of his mixtape, White Noise, he goes back and forth, showing equal flashes of Slug from Atmosphere–in his self-deprecating humor and storytelling ability–and early Eminem–in his drug-happy, horrorcore-ish indulgence. You hear both sides of the coin on opener, “It Puts The Lotion On The Skin,” which even sounds like a Midwest twangin’ Atmosphere joint circa Lucy Ford EP’s. “Searchin For Answers” then shows where Slug’s and Eminem’s music would sometimes intersect–in raw vulnerability and almost invasive emotionality.
White Noise as a whole is more often than not a good listen, exploring Halon’s shifting and conflicting emotions towards women. It doesn’t all work, of course–the hook to “Jimmy Fuck Life” didn’t need to happen (actually, Halon singing at all probably shouldn’t happen that much) and “Bringin Cracka Back” isn’t quite funny enough to mask the generic techno-rap beat. But there is quality music here. Plus Halon’s website has recently ceased to exist so you really better nab this while you can. Hopefully, this doesn’t mean anything real drastic about his career.
Shouts to Jimmy Powers for putting me up on Halon. My bad it took two months to actually write something about it.
