Fat Mike is back with a new band called Codefendants, and they have released a debut album that might be one of the sickest debut albums this year; it’s called This Is Crime Wave, and funny enough, Crime Wave is the genre that’s made up in the minds of Fat Mike, Sam King from Get Dead, and rapper Ceschi Ramos. So it’s hip-hop, new wave, punk? There are some acoustic guitars and THE BEATLES! Trumpets? It’s everything and awesome. But let’s move on to the album.
Opening the album “Def Cons,” which isn’t a good song by any means. It’s uneven and doesn’t know what it’s doing. Ramos delivers on the raps, but it’s not a memorable song. This is odd because “Abscessed” featuring Onry Ozzborne and Get Dead, make room for each genre on this track; there’s no mismatch where the punk falls behind and sounds like it was added to justify the punk in the new made-up genre. Instead, the punk is heard loud and clear, with the raps coming faster than a groupie in the 70s. This song has everything I would want in a song when I hear punk, hip-hop, and new-age hip-hop mashed together in a blender. This song is the summer anthem for 2023.
The D.O.C., yes, the actual D.O.C., a legend, is featured on the “Fast Ones,” and this song marks his return after nearly 20 years out of the game. The fact this legend came out of retirement to get involved in this song should be acknowledged because this is important for everyone. To those who were around in the 90s for hip-hop, I would say that this song sounds influenced by it but met with an updated sound that reminds me of the sound Lil´ Dicky spits out in his songs.
“The last person I dated accused me of trauma dumping / and they were absolutely right” opening lyrics to “Disaster Scenes” featuring Stacy Dee from Bad Cop/Bad Cop is a strong song. Stacy Dee puts on a vulnerable display and opens up about the abuse she experienced early in her childhood. On “Suckers,” we finally get some trumpets and a somewhat jazz vibe over it. The pop-punk sound on “Brutiful” – yes, clever title – shows that a whole song doesn’t need one or the other but that there’s a natural progression from a Celtic folk vibe to a chorus with pop-punk chords throughout it.
The album itself has minor flaws, but along the way, those flaws turn out to be what makes the album complete. The lyrics and the different instrumental arrangements we hear on the album work. And for a debut album, it can be worrying if they can keep the level of rawness throughout their following albums if they ever come. The themes that they tackle on the album; child abuse, trauma dumping, gang violence, racism, violence, and many more, definitely seems to show another layer of Fat Mike, but not surprising Sam King or Ceschi Ramos, who has had a first-hand experience with drugs and the prison system. This album highlights much darkness and blurs the line on what is genre-defying. This Is Crime Wave is raw and shouldn’t be taken lightly. I am pleased with the turnout, and all I have left to say is; I better wipe my fucking face (see what I did there?)
It gets 4 stars out of five from me.
I recommend the following songs: Abscessed, Fast Ones, Suicide By Pigs (It’s funny but not funny, you know?), Disaster Scenes, Coda-Fendants
