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‘Yeah Imma start practically immediately”, is how STILL RIFT kicks off the album Service Merchandise, by the new group consisting of himself as well as long-time collaborators Open Mike Eagle and Video Dave on the track Showbiz. Tellingly, this record wastes no time getting it’s messages across, sparing little time on each track for anything but deftly passed around verses over diverse yet consistently lush and antique sounding instrumentals and samples.

Following RIFT’s brief introduction, “Showbiz” serves as an introduction to the 3 characters of this album. Each member leads into their bar with the common,

“So gather ’round, We’re the new fools in town,

And the sounds laid down by the underground

We’ll drink up all the whiskey that you got on your shelf

So just let me introduce myself, my name is…”

Followed by each of them identifying themselves and giving a quick taste of their personalities, like OME saying , “my name is Open Michael, pronounced like it was fired from a broken rifle”. This track also serves to demonstrate the different rap styles and flows between the three members. STILL RIFT has a very articulated staccato flow with quick pronunciations, with a huge vocabulary. Video Dave has a smooth, buttery slowed down flow where each word has huge weight to it. Open Mike Eagle has comparatively a varied flow, which can touch into each of those priorly mentioned styles, but can also switch up naturally in a jazz-like fashion.

“Pliers” comes in on a drunken guitar sample loop, with the trio each coming in with a verse coming from the points of view of a nostalgic veteran that never quite got the full recognition that they had coming. OME starts off “Shit’s got me in a vice grip, My mind shifts to the opening. I exist in the opening.” and Video Dave roundly closing off the track “Always meeting folks, always feel alone, availability, I take it, give your boy the night shift, gotta keep living, like shit, got me in a vice grip.”

The ”night shift” aspect segues me into an interesting aspect of this album. Both “Showbiz”, “Pliers”, as well as all the other track titles on Service Merchandise are references to dead malls across the country. This, combined with the titles of the album and group: Service Merchandise by Previous Industries, paint the picture of something that has been taken, commodified as a product, and eventually left behind.

“Braids” is the third track on the album, and this one takes a bit of a sonic shift from the first two. Where those tracks were off kilter and drunken, “Braids” comes across as comparatively erratic and ADHD, while still maintaining a sonic consistency through the instrumental choices of softer sounds. To accompany the faster tempo, this is the first track where the trio is straight up trading bar for bar in perfect unison, trading the lead back and forth like a hot potato. Songs like this exemplify how comfortable and in tune these artists are with each other.

“Roebuck” is a standout track for me. It is presented through the perspective of being a kid, looking through department store catalogs. Wishing you could have all those amazing toys and clothes displayed across the pages. It uses this common memory as a beautiful analogy for wondering about a better life across all aspects. Whether it be more riches, better health, good tidings for your family, or even newfound lust for things you wouldn’t have otherwise felt were needed. Video Dave starts off the verse by painting the concept of the song,

“Every page I pick a picture as my preference, but just for reference

I like ’em all, number one through number twenty-seven

One question, who directed the photos and chose the layout?

How many accountants calculate the payout? How Many?”

With STILL RIFT following on verse 2 through the lens of always being stuck waiting for a package, always waiting for that next thing to come in, “Don’t bother calling me ’cause I ain’t answering, When cords ain’t long enough to reach while signing for my packages”. Finally, OME comes in with the final verse rocking an absolutely amazing flow, cadence, and rhyme scheme,

“Cellular beeper phone receiver

I’ll tell you a secret, don’t repeat it

I need it, I didn’t know I need it

It looks like a pump and feels like a sneaker

This crook smells like a skunk and steals like a tweaker”

If you only listen to one track off of Service Merchandise, I hope it’s Roebuck. It’s my favorite track of the year.

“Montgomery Ward” opens with STILL RIFT rapping with excellent delivery over a cut up drum heavy beat that is somewhat reminiscent of a track off Donuts. Queen Kerawin follows up as one of two features on the album, performing well with fun word play and mostly keeping in line with lower key nature of this track. Open Mike closes this out with an emotional delivery and solid bars, like, “Indie rappers deserve government subsidies, or else we’ll make other discoveries and have to post findings reluctantly.”

“White Hen” is similar to the song “Braids” in that it is more up tempo and features trading bars. It differs, however, in that “Braids” had a more experimental ADHD beat, while “White Hen” has a classic NY boom bap piano drum beat. This song really exemplifies how excellently these three sound as a trio next to each other. The way they are able to seamlessly pick up the last members flow and rhyme scheme shows just how much texture each of their individual voices and styles gives to every section. The song ebbs and flows and never stays static, but maintains an unbelievable level of sonic consistency. I would say that is microcosmic of this entire album, reaching a wide variety of sounds and styles while maintaining remarkable consistency throughout.

“Babbages” is another type of drawl-y drunken beat, although much more lavish sounding, coming across like a dreamy surreal organ performance. The trio each takes advantage of the dreamy atmosphere, taking precise flows where they leave just the perfect amount of hang on each word, giving a live performance like quality.

“Fotomat” opens with OME spitting what I’d say is the strongest verse on the record. Taking up a complicated rhyme scheme right off the bat, he carries it and adapts and evolves it throughout the entire verse, without sacrificing the storytelling in any way,

“Can one love really split in two?

I need to leave, I need to wash my hands

I need to breathe, need to sit by you

I had this dream where I chipped my tooth

I try to scream and my lips won’t move

I passed out, a little disco nap

I woke up and it was 6:02”

Followed up by the hook “Unseen forces collide, we got too much supply, everythings marked to go” which I believe gets at one of the central themes of this album, which is comparing rap to a dead mall. So many of these songs are drenched in childhood nostalgia, a time in these rappers lives when rap wasn’t so commodified as it is today. And as they grew into that career, alongside the commodification of rap, how do they balance the need to commodify their art alongside the desire to make art unrestricted from that. What gets left behind when you form your art into a product, and what might go undiscovered and therefore forgotten if you make your art outside the realm of capitalism.

“Dominick’s” opens to an urgent looping sample leading to STILL RIFT spitting over a guitar riff, setting the song up for a very aggressive pace. Keeping that pace , the opening bars are pretty dizzying, “Caught up in the riptide, secondhand Apartheid, Surfer curl the spliffy jiffy faster than my empty guts could answer with a follow up, Choking on a coping mechanism while the wheel of fortune spins like a religion, Catch a catechism like a prism catches light before it breaks it up” OME follows with a solid verse with the funny standout bar, “I don’t fuck with jet skis and wake boards; I’m too frightened.” Video dave follows up, with Quelle Chris, the albums second and final feature, closing out with a solid verse with an appreciated style switch up.

“Zayre” is a more fun, light hearted track, starting with a short intro of OME speculating on how Previous Industries comes up with their material, when Video Dave cuts in saying “Whiskey.” Before going into a fun verse with that theme coloring it, “I ain’t picky but I’m thrifty so I’m open to a new one if the bartender convince me.” The beat is gentle, featuring a loop of what sounds like the trio singing “la la la” together, with chopped up guitar alongside. RIFT comes in with a solid spoken word style verse with some cool lyrics. OME closes out the track with a solid emotional delivery where he rides the beat very nicely.

“Kay Bee” is the last track to Service Merchandise. It features a beat of a ghostly sounding choir looped, simple but effective and evocative. Video Dave opens with a jazzy intro where he mixes up temp so smoothly, “My God, what odds, it’s a City of Stars, But what’s a city to a city but a different bar?” OME comes in second, with a verse that’s quite solemn and contemplative compared to many performances across the album. Still, it is a solid and well performed delivery, and carries his classic lyricism and humor, I seen a policeman, I’m runnin’ from cop songs, Admit that I’m mistaken, but promise I’m not wrong, I make tall stacks weird ways like mahjong, It’s random like the ingredients of a hotdog.” STILL RIFT closes the record out with a verse of epic scale, with arguably the most complex writing across the whole album. Lacing in historical and media and cultural references in and out with extreme precision, all well over such a haunting and sparse beat. It’s a perfect way to end the album, which is my personal favorite album of 2024. Not enough people listened to it, I strongly recommend you do!