{"id":721,"date":"2023-11-03T19:22:06","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T19:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/2023\/11\/casisdead-famous-last-words-review\/"},"modified":"2023-11-03T19:22:06","modified_gmt":"2023-11-03T19:22:06","slug":"casisdead-famous-last-words-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/2023\/11\/casisdead-famous-last-words-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: CASISDEAD, \u2018Famous Last Words\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">The masked rapper\u2019s debut album is an exceptional world-builder, bleak yet glistening in its dystopian soundtrack to an instant classic.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no British rapper as elusive as North London\u2019s CASISDEAD. Faceless since his rebrand from Castro Saint, the mystique behind his story is what\u2019s kept fans engaged, obtainable purely through the minimal output the ex-grime emcee puts out. His last full length effort came in 2014, drip-feeding singles over the last nine years close to strategic fashion. \u201cListen to the album,\u201d he said in a recent rare interview. If the rapper\u2019s to be believed, the answers lie in his long-anticipated debut album.<\/p>\n<p>Imagination runs wild on <em>Famous Last Words<\/em>, generating a puzzling, addictive universe executed with precision by one of the nation\u2019s most talented rappers.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"627\" src=\"https:\/\/miccheque.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/casisdead-photo.jpeg?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25173\" srcset=\"https:\/\/miccheque.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/casisdead-photo.jpeg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/miccheque.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/casisdead-photo.jpeg?w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/miccheque.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/casisdead-photo.jpeg?w=150 150w, https:\/\/miccheque.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/casisdead-photo.jpeg?w=300 300w, https:\/\/miccheque.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/casisdead-photo.jpeg?w=768 768w, https:\/\/miccheque.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/casisdead-photo.jpeg?w=1440 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Press shot<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>Famous Last Words<\/em>\u00a0is both vivid and cryptic, a theatrical sci-fi adventure drowned in dreamy 80s synths courtesy of\u00a0<em>Stranger Things<\/em>\u00a0composer Kyle Dixon, alongside Johnny Jewel, MsM, Felix Joseph and more. It\u2019s a starry-eyed escapade from the real world into something far worse, mired by addiction, control, self-indulgence, and dormant trauma.<\/p>\n<p>Threaded throughout\u00a0<em>Famous Last Words<\/em>\u00a0is a dense narrative that makes for an ambitious concept album: a controlled dystopian society being fed Aghast 6, a drug inducing apathy in its subject, developed by a company called DeadCorp. Presumably, CAS is on this drug, indulging in its main symptoms\u2014increased sexual appetite\u2014throughout the album. The eight skits follow Alpha and Omega, two rebels who refuse to take the drug &#038; aim to take down DeadCorp. The two stories never intersect but are vastly connected, just like a well-directed movie with an A-plot and B-plot. It speaks to CASISDEAD\u2019s creativity and ability to pull off a concept album with such detail, to the point where websites and commercials exist for Apathy 6 detailing its symptoms.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"CASISDEAD - Venom\" width=\"792\" height=\"446\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/J4MQtDCUIQ8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The experience is packed with previously-released singles which still sound fresh amongst the album. Cult classic \u201cPat Earrings\u201d lands a placement despite its eight-year age, as does \u201cBefore This\u201d, \u201cTraction Control\u201d and \u201cBoys Will Be Boys\u201d. The La Roux collaboration \u201cPark Assist\u201d is dearly missed, and would\u2019ve packed an appropriate punch.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of grabbing trendy features, CAS works with alt artists to match his ambitions. The Connie Constance hook of \u201cMarilyn\u201d is a starry-eyed affair, married to the synthwave aesthetic like every other track. Desire duets with CAS on the moving \u201cActin\u2019 Up\u201d, while Kamio lays a raunchy hook on \u201cPineapple Juice\u201d. The guest vocals feel methodical, all part of the puzzle<em>\u00a0Famous Last Words<\/em>\u00a0is building.<\/p>\n<p>Apt to the album title, closing track \u201cSkydive\u201d featuring Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys reads as a death note. CAS bears the most personal verse of his career, potentially serving as a double meaning for his character dying from Apathy 6 and his rumoured real-life health\u00a0\u00a0battles. It is a powerful closer, bringing to a close to the bleak message of the album.<\/p>\n<p>At every turn, the listener is presented with the most refreshing album UK rap\u2019s had in years.\u00a0<em>Famous Last Words<\/em>\u00a0is an enthralling experience, maximising efforts, ambition and creativity. In a year where hip hop\u2019s been under the fire for its lack of dominance, CASISDEAD shows the world how to beat the odds and grant an instant classic. Pay attention UK rappers, this the new bar.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-huge-font-size\" style=\"letter-spacing:0.8px;line-height:1\"><strong>9 \/ 10<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Best tracks: <\/strong>\u201cPat Earrings\u201d, \u201cMarilyn\u201d, \u201cActin\u2019 Up\u201d, \u201cVenom\u201d, \u201cSkydive\u201d, \u201cMatte Grey Wrap\u201d, \u201cBoys Will Be Boys\u201d, \u201cBefore This\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The masked rapper\u2019s debut album is an exceptional world-builder, bleak yet glistening in its dystopian soundtrack to an instant classic.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14044,"featured_media":909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[10,9],"class_list":["post-721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-rss","tag-culture","tag-hip-hop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14044"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}