Released: 2011

Genres: Industrial Hip-Hop, Experimental Hip-Hop, Glitch Hop, Hardcore Hip-Hop

The Musiquarium’s Exmilitary Review Score: 10 out of 10

Death Grips are a three piece hip-hop group consisting of Stefan Burnett (a.k.a. MC Ride), drummer Zach Hill, and producer Andy Morin. The band released a self-titled EP earlier in 2011, followed by this game-changing mixtape: Exmilitary.

Beware boldly begins the mixtape with a speech from Charles Manson, backed by a sample of Jane’s Addiction’s Up the Beach. On Spread Eagle Across the Block, Death Grips takes Link Wray’s revolutionary track Rumble, cranks the volume to the loudest it can go effective. The deep bass rattle of Guillotine makes for an instant classic, and a sign of what’s to come in 2010s hip-hop. Takyon (Death Yon) previously appeared on the self-titled EP and is another essential Death Grips track. I Want It I Need It (Death Heated) uses samples from not just one, but two songs off of Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

Some of the other samples on here include David Bowie’s The Supermen,The Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s Fire, Beastie Boys’ Fight for Your Right, Brass Monkey and Girls, Black Flag’s Rise Above and Bad Brain’s Supertouch/Shitfit — in fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if Exmilitary was a mixtape only out of necessity to avoid the sample clearance that a commercial release would absolutely require.

Exmilitary is one of the most exciting and influential mixtapes in modern hip-hop, helping to shift the paradigm in rap for the upcoming decade.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Death Grips on Discogs.

Back to the 2011 Album Guide or the Death Grips Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard