As far as unique rappers go, it doesn’t get any more surreal and dystopian than New Jersey-based Fatboi Sharif. I’ve been following the talented emcee since 2020 after the release of his excellent album Gandhi Loves Children with producer Roper Williams, and has since put out incredible project after incredible project – Cyber City Society with LoneSword and Preaching In Havana with noface in 2022, and Planet Unfaithful with Roper Williams earlier this year. They’re all incredible bodies of work that showcase Sharif’s talents as an emcee as well as a visionary. Nobody raps quite like him. From his cadence to flow, the way he pronounces and enunciates certain words and phrases, as well as his abstract and horrorcore/art house film-esque style of writing. I say this because I know he loves his experimental / horror films, and a lot of the time when I’m listening to him rap, it’s like I’m in a dystopian experimental film about the end of the world.

New York-based Backwoodz Studioz producer Steel Tipped Dove is an exceptional artist, versatile in the soundscapes he’s able to build, with animated and disorienting instrumentals that shine through on projects such as 2021’s Call Me When You’re Outside and 2023’s all the weight feathers don’t have. From smooth, soulful and angelic to desolate and experimental, it feels like he could produce for anyone. On Decay, the new collaborative project between these two underground legends, both artists bring the absolute best out of each other. Fatboi Sharif’s idiosyncratic delivery and abstract lyricism pushes Steel Tipped Dove to create some striking and boundary-pushing production. It’s a dark, disorienting and unassuming album, that takes twists and turns, both instrumentally, and lyrically, as Sharif takes you into his fascinating dystopian world of decay.

“Phantasm” kicks the album off with heavy drums and crashing guitars and synths, with Sharif’s off-kilter lyricism, abstract and niche references. I deffo need to ask him for more film and music recommendations. I learned about Screamin’ Jay Hawkins from this track, so a lot of the stuff on this album is also educational in that one. A man of culture, truly! The sample that closes the track out is incredible too. “East Hollywood” has these incredible synth leads and off-kilter drumming. It’s a quieter and moodier track, with more apocalyptic lyricism. “Designer Drugs” has this eerie synth sample and muffled beat, as Sharif talks about the effects of what he calls designer drugs, as his hallucinatory visions create weird, desolate lyricism about the reality of decay in today’s world. “Brandon Lee” has these chimes that hit, along with a muffled vocal sample, with Sharif saying “I sold the crows to the satellite” (at least that’s what I hear) with this menacing vocal delivery that just hits hard. “Dimethyltryptamine” has this hellish beat, with this bassline that lingers throughout the track, while “Ash Wednesday” has these eerie striking keys throughout, as he raps effortlessly throughout, with a flow that is just infectious and incredible. But it’s Steel Tipped Dove that brings this hellish soundscape, not only on this track but throughout the album. “(Interlude)” is an instrumental cut, with keys and synths, as well as pitched vocals that add to the eeriness of the track as a whole. “Prisoners Of Jesus” is another animated track, with abstract lyricism including “kept Jesus captivate downstairs in the glass case”. It’s the off-kilter images he’s able to create throughout the songs that them so fascinating to digest. “Think Pieces” has this loud, almost drumless beat, speaking on government and bureaucratic control, painting surrealist pictures of an oppressive life under these regimes. “Kingdom” is an eerie, spacious track, continuing Sharif’s lyricism about the effects of the powerful over the rest of us, and the dark, weird shit that happens as a s result. “Measuring Spoon Techniques” and “Green Winged Shoulder Padding” are standouts for me on the album. The former track has this incredibly moody beat, as Fatboi Sharif floats on the track, creating juxtaposed imagery throughout – “powdered roses carry a bag of bones”. It’s eclectic and odd lyricism but paints a world of decay effortlessly. The latter track has an incredible beat, but Sharif’s flow is moodier and drunker, making his delivery so captivating throughout. The heaviness in the guitars on “The Christening” is great as well, with the driving beat making, with Sharif’s abstractions working brilliantly on this track. “The 6th Floor” has these heavy guitar riffs throughout the beat, with an incredible rock sample to end the track out. “Scarhead” is another highlight, with a mellow beat, atmospheric beat, yet it’s so eerie and Fatboi Sharif’s vocals here sounding so potent and visceral. Painting hallucinatory visions, this is one of the more striking cuts off the album. “Boogie Monster” has this atmospheric, Clams Casino-inspired beat, with its synths, but the drums themselves are trademark Steel Tipped Dove. Fatboi Sharif’s lyrics about childhood traumas, painted through metaphors of boogie monsters and other creatures. “The Farewell Outfit” is a reflective yet dark and gloomy closer, as Sharif closes out a story of deprived, surrealism, similar to the themes and visual descriptions I’d get out of William S. Burroughs’ literary classic Naked Lunch.

In a way, Sharif is a novelist, creating depictions of depravity and surrealism via vivid imagery of decay around us. The album is the perfect description of surrealism in music form, and is one of the most striking experimental albums I’ve heard in years. Steel Tipped Dove’s production paints a varied and nuanced soundscape, with both atmospheric synth leads that provide a lighter and more colourful touch, and gloomy, murky production that sonically adds to the doom and gloom of the themes and topics discovered. Decay is a varied and striking album from two artists at the peak of their creative powers. Surreal and dystopian, hallucinatory and clever, Fatboi Sharif and Steel Tipped Dove have exceeded expecations with Decay, one of the most striking experimental rap albums in years. Go listen to the album via Bandcamp below! Released via Backwoodz Studioz