The Lazy EP by Cruger is raw, authentic, hilarious, a bit fucked up, but very very good. Cruger doesn't necessarily take lyrical rap to places it has never been before, but he does take it to a place with vivid imagery, spilled out from the head of an MC who's pen is as sharp as it can be, so for that, I enjoyed where he took it.
Just to begin with some top level points and opinions I have from this EP, I loved how classic and 90's the boom bap production felt. I believe Preemo produced one of the beats just because I swear I've heard the same instrumental somewhere else before. The gritty tone to the production married up well with the grittier lyrics.
The Lazy EP is definitely within the horror-core category of hip hop - if that is your thing then I would 100% recommend checking this EP (I could only find it on YouTube just fyi). What draws me back to some of the songs on this EP time and time again is Cruger's expansive, mad, crazy, imagination. Not just with his actual lyrical content, but with his flows, his rhyme schemes, where he actually places his punchlines, it's full of depth and diversity. The most blatantly "horror-core" track is "Aristocrats", I don't want to spoil the song for people who haven't heard it yet, but I'll just say it is very twisted, funny and a bit sickening, however, the most impressive thing about the song is just the pure creativity of it. Rapping isn't easy at the best of times, so to create a whole little story, events that happen in the story you would never think to ever happen, and simultaneously it is being rapped in a consistent and clever manner. Props to Cruger, he does this throughout the project.
You can tell Cruger has so many influences on his pen. Of course, without asking him I would never know for sure, but just based on some of the elements of his multi-syllable rhyming ability and often his flows and delivery, I'd definitely say he listens to people like MF Doom, Eminem, all of D12, Jay Z, Redman, just to name a few. So why is The Lazy EP so good? Well, firstly, I love how Cruger maintains a consistent theme throughout the EP. He paints a picture of himself as this rude, lazy, loser dosser (this isn't a diss I'm pretty sure it was intentional) and he never really deviates from it. He has this image in mind when he's writing all these songs. It's a vibe that I am completely here for, he completely owns it, and in fairness, although of course I value content a lot, as long as an MC is spitting with decent technique and confidence, I'm always gonna have an ear for it.
Cruger is great at rapping about topics that may seen uninteresting and making them interesting and creative. Before, I spoke about "Aristocrats" being a good storytelling track, but he also showcases similar qualities on the tracks "Lazy" and "Awkward". I love "Awkward", he goes through SO MANY different scenarios where he acts awkward and unfortunately so many were relatable. Just that creativity to think of all those different situations and again, deliver them in nice bars and rhyme schemes to keep the songs interesting and entertaining. That's all you've got to do as a rapper, say something, but make sure it's creative and unique - Cruger absolutely does this in abundance on "Awkward" and the rest of the EP.
Some of the hooks on the project could've been slightly more ambitious, I felt some were a bit too simple. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that though because it paid off massively with the tracks "Make Room" and "Write Whatever Pops Into Your Mind Type Shit", both these choruses were incredibly catchy and enjoyable.
The track "Write Whatever Pops Into Your Mind Type Shit" itself proves that Cruger is indeed a practiced lyricist. The rhyme scheme and flow where he says "fuck a TV guide, I'm on my PC high, watching 3D pipes" completely proves this. I think Cruger knows how hard that flow and scheme went just from the ad-lib "Woahh" he puts in after the bars.
Another one of my favourite songs was "Keep It Surreal". I loved the aggression in this song, particularly the hook. Earlier I referenced Eminem as a possible influence, if you listen to "Amityville" from The Marshall Mathers LP you get the same pin-point, gruesome lyricism with an aggressive hook.
My favourite track on the EP has to be "Croogah". I loved the way he weaves "croogah" into his verse. The beat feels slightly funkier, making the track a bit more unique and a slightly different vibe. There's a particularly good line with decent wordplay where he says "all coppers are CUNTStables" I thought that was particularly funny. My favourite part of the track was how he delivered the hook. On purpose, he sounds like a bit of an idiot, it's class. My only criticism is that it ends too soon.
This EP was really fun to listen to. Just from seeing him in battles I knew Cruger was a good MC with strong lyricism, but this EP was better than I expected and I will return to this underground gem as often as possible.
Star Track - Croogah
8.5/10
"We are the walking talking dead, CROOGAH, but you can call me Fred, yeah, I'm from London, yeah, born and bread, CROOGAH, but you can call me Fred."
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