Time – Litterture (Dirty Laboratory)

Time is a 21-year-old Denver based MC. He’ got a lot to say and he crams an almost endless torrent of words on the 14 densely packed tracks here. Musically it’s pretty stripped back, gentle melodic loops, often classical, something soundscapey or equally diverse hemmed in by basic drum machine beats. This minimal aesthetic pushes Time’ rhymes and vocals firmly up front and lyrically if there were any other elements it would be overwhelming. It’s almost like the music has parted to allow him space to move. And Time is a mile a minute; each verse seems to be an opportunity to cram in as many words as possible. In this sense there are some real links with Canadian crooner Josh Martinez, yet the lo fi aesthetic is reminiscent with sped up early Buck 65 or Sage Francis. Yet where Sage’ flow is violently dynamic, Time tends to keep the delivery pretty constant. Large and fast. His rhymes are like gymnastics, extraordinary feats of verbal endurance, and it works albeit breathlessly. His interest seems to be not breathing, long streams of content, yet still retaining comprehensibility. You’d think he’d be more than at home in the Anticon stable. Particularly in terms of content, capitalism, the state of hip hop, television, white trash stories, destructive relationships painted very real and incredibly vivid.