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May 22, 2012Cancer4Cure is about hip-hop like Glengarry Glen Ross was about sales, but these great works transcend their industries, offering solace and inspiration to anyone who would prefer a satisfied mind over a Cadillac Eldorado, or in current terms, an Escalade.
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Alternative PressMay 21, 2012Even if it's probably not a classic, it's still pretty damn solid. [Jun 2012, p.81]
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May 29, 2012It's far ahead enough of that competition, intellectually and inspirationally, to exist on another plane of appreciation altogether.
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Jul 5, 2012This is a high point in his already illustrious career; a labyrinthine and ultramodern take on hip-hop that will likely age like a Cabernet.
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Jul 25, 2012Cancer4Cure is very much a window shattering Brooklyn rap record in every sense... [Meline is] busting loose some of the sharpest darts of his life.
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May 24, 2012A set of 12 songs overflowing with bile and sonic invention.
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May 21, 2012Few artists create a tougher, colder world as convincingly.
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May 29, 2012A synth heavy, angst ridden, paranoia-fuelled musical monolith filled with catchy hooks, heavy drums and nods of the cap towards Dubstep.
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May 24, 2012Despite the brainy, composer-like attention to detail and El-P's complicated lyrics, this is still music imbued with a bracing sense of physicality. It's great stomping music.
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Jun 8, 2012El-P's always been ahead of the curve but Cancer for Cure isn't valuable for its prescience so much as its currency of the now and the way it unites rap head nostalgia for the future beats of the past with the beats of the present.
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May 22, 2012C4C is something more sinister and involuted: It's El-P fighting El-P, but damn is it fun to watch.
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May 23, 2012When you combine this teeth-gritting lyrical intensity with El-P's boundary-pushing production and stupefyingly capable poetics, it's little wonder that, for all its darkness, paranoia and rage, Cancer For Cure emerges as one of the year's most endlessly re-playable records.
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May 21, 2012The most disarming thing El-P's got going for him is his ability to sound like he's broadcasting from an impossible future even while he's standing right next to you in the present.
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May 23, 2012Cancer For Cure is El-P's most accessible album yet, and with the right push it could be his breakthrough release.
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May 22, 2012The music is certainly some of El's most engaging yet, and should possess real lasting power.
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May 22, 2012It's this balance of aggression and harmony that make El-P so engaging--and Cancer for Cure so triumphant.
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May 23, 2012Elitist as it might seem, it's a Rap album that sounds better if you can name most of the Gang Starr Foundation.
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May 22, 2012Ace producer and longtime champion of underground hip-hop El-P walks a fine line on Cancer 4 Cure, crafting aggression with militaristic precision.
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MagnetJun 13, 2012El-P splits the difference between old-school bruisers, cyber-punk dystopias and misanthropic noir. [No.88 p. 55]
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MojoJun 26, 2012A one-man rap vigilante. [Jul 2012, p.92]
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May 21, 2012Cancer For Cure is a dependably bold, powerful statement, perhaps not quite as masterful as its predecessors, but still overflowing with ideas and innovation.
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Jun 27, 2012For all the missteps along the way, El-P arrives somewhere quite poignant, and although he may not have paved his own way there, his route is quite impressive, and there is no wasted beat and no unseen seriousness and intensity.
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Jun 28, 2012The production has been updated for a new, not so distant future, but retains its mechanical crunch and metallic din.
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Jun 12, 2012With Cancer4Cure I was gratified on the first spin, but I'm sure it will take many more listens to fully understand El-P's brilliance on both the mic and the boards.
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May 22, 2012The stormy, steely drones and security-camera rhetoric can almost feel like he's compensating for something. But that doesn't stop it from being weirdly charming through its relentless sneer.
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May 21, 2012Cancer 4 Cure's closest analogue may be Portishead's Third: the textures and tones are distinctly different from past releases, but it's unimaginable that it could be made by anyone else.
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May 22, 2012The true brilliance of Cancer For Cure is its refusal to find common ground, to come to the middle and meet anyone.
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Q MagazineOct 12, 2012He's equally skilled as a stream-of-consciousness philosopher or gripping storyteller. [Jul 2012, p.98]
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Jun 5, 2012It is prime El-P, deep, heavy, funny, and banging all at the same time.
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May 22, 2012[Cancer4Cure] is a paranoid reality show – and that's its appeal.
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May 23, 2012As with previous efforts, Cancer for Cure pushes the sonic envelope of hip-hop beyond its contemporaries from the very start
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May 22, 2012Cancer For Cure is a triumph of imagination and intelligence in service of a pervasive sense of personal and political unease.
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May 21, 2012El-P's least ambitious record.
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May 24, 2012A collection that sees El-P update his sound and his flow to combustible effect.
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May 29, 2012Like pretty much all of his previous work, C4C isn't really open for the casual listen. Music as densely layered and as assimilated as this tends to unwrap itself at different times in different situations and with varying results.
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The WireJul 24, 2012The energy is impressive and it's hard to find technical fault but the stagnation is undeniable. [May 2012, p.73]
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May 22, 2012Cancer 4 Cure is as hard and vital as anything El-P has ever released, and that's no light praise.
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UncutJun 1, 2012At times you're left craving some of the eerie minimalism of El-P's classical Cannibal Ox Productions. [Jul 2012, p.71]
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May 30, 2012Cancer for Cure stuns by featuring some of the most energetic tracks El-P has ever put his name to.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 68 out of 76
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Mixed: 7 out of 76
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Negative: 1 out of 76
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May 23, 2012
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Jun 5, 2012
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Dec 8, 2012