My Gut Reaction: DJ Muggs & Mach-Hommy - Tuez-Les Tous (March 29, 2019)

I feel like I’ve gifted DJ Muggs with quite a bit of virtual real estate ever since his prolific renaissance began back in 2017. I’ve written about every single one of his creative endeavors since then, with the exception of Cypress Hill’s Elephants On Acid (because I’m trying to get through that group in chronological order of their album releases) and Roc Marciano’s KAOS (because things). So forgive me if I choose not to spend much more time diving into the background of the producer born Lawrence Muggerud during today’s piece. I’d much rather discuss his collaborative partner on Tuez-Les Tous, the far more reclusive Mach-Hommy.

Because of his reluctance to be recognized or interviewed at length, Mach-Hommy is a bit of an enigma, albeit one that at least hits some solid bullet points. He’s a rapper and producer from New Jersey who was once a part of the Griselda Gang, a loose collective of New York-based artists led by siblings Westside Gunn and Conway the Machine whose mission was to bring back the way East Coast hip hop felt during the late 1990s, but has since removed himself from their ranks. He’s Haitian-American, and both cultures (among others) frequently find themselves inspiring his output. Said output pushes the boundaries of how we value hip hop as a work of art: Mach-Hommy presses limited quantities of his projects (and he’s released quite a few of them) and sells them for exorbitant amounts, a tactic which has worked well for building up his mythos. Almost none of his music is available to stream anywhere: you have to want to hear Mach-Hommy, and with such a low supply available, demand has been rather high throughout his career thus far.

Tuez-Les Tous (French for “Kill Them All”) is a collaborative effort between Hommy and Muggs, who has spent the past year and a half honing his sinister, enigmatic, and, yes, stoner-friendly (see: he’s still a part of Cypress Hill) sound alongside New York underground luminaries such as Meyhem Lauren, Roc Marcy, and Eto, whose project, Hells Roof, fucking bangs, and even dropped earlier in the same month. (I wasn't kidding about the man's prolific streak.) Muggerud has been on quite the run lately, choosing his collaborators wisely and providing each with their own set of soundscapes in an effort to facilitate songs into existence. Mach-Hommy is also careful with selecting who to work with: his prior history with Muggs amounts to a mere two tracks off of the recent Soul Assassins effort Dia Del Asesinato. I imagine both artists enjoyed working with one another, given that Tuez-Les Tous exists and that Hommy trusted Muggs to provide all of the instrumental backing.

Tuez-Les Tous features multiple cameos from Hommy’s boy Tha God Fahim, with whom he’s helped establish the Dump Gawd art collective-slash-music series (not a fan of the name “Dump Gawd”, but whatever, it’s not my life), along with Kungg Fuu, Big Cheeko, and, because this is a Muggs project released in 2019, Meyhem Lauren. Muggerud’s consistency behind the boards over the past couple of years has been impressive, and each project has been crafted around the strengths of his collaborators, so it’ll be interesting to see how well he plays with Mach-Hommy, a dude who is used to calling all the shots. (Tuez-Les Tous is poised to become Hommy’s most accessible project, availability-wise, simply because it’s a Soul Assassins production.)

So let’s do this thing.

1. 2 SECOND FREESTYLE (FEAT. KUNGG FUU)

Serving as a loosely-plotted rap album intro, “2 Second Freestyle”, a nonsensical title that in no way describes the contents wherein, is two verses of free-associative aggressive street shit that take place atop a menacing and melodic Muggerud foundation. Mach-Hommy and his boy Kungg Fuu, whose very nickname makes me anxious every time I have to see it written out like that, each take a turn in the spotlight, their various boasts, threats, and, at least in our host’s case, jokes (“You a Tigger, boing, boing, boring me”) twirling down a spiral DJ Muggs staircase that could crumble at any moment. Both artists make the same comment about “put[ting] Haitian money on your [head]” within mere seconds of one another, but that just proves they’re of one mind when it comes to this rap shit. If the rest of Tuez-Les Tous feels like this track, I’ll be happy.

2. STAIN GLASS

Welp, that was fast. I feel like I’m going to catch some flak for this, but it’s been, what, twelve years since I started this blog? And I suddenly started giving a fuck about your feelings when exactly? “Stain Glass” is weak as shit. Muggs turns in an instrumental that sounds like the theme to a really shitty daytime soap opera, one that never gains any momentum whatsoever, satisfied to remain in ‘park’ while Mach-Hommy delivers uninspired bars that don’t really go anywhere. I get that “Stain Glass” is a specific vibe, one that a lot of you two probably dig a lot, but I wouldn’t even want to live in the same fucking galaxy as this shit if I had any choice in the matter. “Stain Glass” is boring as hell, and I say that even though I also commend Muggerud for feeling comfortable enough to forego a drum beat (in the traditional sense, anyway), which is quite the flex. Fuck this track, though. Feel free to troll me in the comments, I could give a shit. You know I’m right.

3. 900K

Muggs snaps back into reality with “900K”, two Mach-Hommy verses (and a chorus delivered in Haitian Creole) surrounded by sinister tones and haunted piano keys that sound as though Muggerud was actively trying to channel the ghost of The Alchemist. Imitation or no, the beat was still pretty good regardless: it evokes the bleak, darker nature of the best Muggstrumentals, and Hommy adapts quickly with his threats and goofy braggadocio (“Bitch, I’m out your bracket”) that are trademarks of his writing style. “900K” isn’t great, mind you, but you two probably wouldn’t skip past it. I’m still waiting for something to just fucking grab me on Tuez-Les Tous, though.

4. PIOTR

An unnerving melody seemingly lifted directly from a cassette tape of a reading of a nightmarish Brothers Grimm fairy tale anchors “Piotr”, which contains one long verse and one incredibly short stanza from our host (who appears to be very good at determining just how long his songs need to be before moving on to the next idea) along with an interminable, unnecessary, and downright fucking terrible hook (I take back what I just wrote in my previous set of parentheses). Is Mach-Hommy interpreting a biblical take about Peter, a disciple of Jesus Christ, or is he just fucking with us all? Really doesn’t matter either way, bro: that horseshit hook was so awful that it drags the whole-ass entire rest of the track down with it. Which is a shame, because otherwise “Piotr” wasn’t half bad. I’m thinking Muggs probably should have asserted himself a bit more during the editing process.

5. LAJAN JWIF

Quasi-problematic title (why don’t you go ahead there and throw that shit into Google Translate, you two) and horribly shitty chorus work aside, this song kind of bangs. Mach-Hommy kicks the swinging doors of a neo-noir saloon open with Muggerud’s instrumental assistance, providing two laid-back verses delivered with an audible smirk on his face and a shrug of his shoulders, managing to sound halfway-convincingly threatening even when he tosses in a reference to Beyoncé for some reason. DJ Muggs’ production work does a lot here, carrying our host’s bars over the threshold and giving them the life they deserve, which is why it’s too bad the hook is so goddamn asinine, existing solely as an excuse for Hommy to repeat the phrase “fuck you” multiple times with no rhyme or reason. True, Mach-Hommy is entitled to do as he pleases, like all artists are, but let’s not pretend every decision he makes has merit – sometimes rappers do dumb shit, folks. The Soul Assassins tag at the very end was a nice touch, though.

6. WET BALLY (FEAT. MEYHEM LAUREN)

Not so much a “shock” that Muggerud’s current BFF Meyhem Lauren saw fit to enter the fray as it is a “what took you so long, dude?”-type of situation. Also unsurprising is the fact that Lauren opens “Wet Bally”, a choice designed to allow for our host to swoop in and save the day, I’m assuming. What did throw me for a loop is just how bad this track was. Meyhem is still in Gems from the Equinox mode (and remember, I liked that album), but Muggs provides his collaborators with an instrumental that never gels with its surroundings: it stands out too much, like a Smurf in a bag of dildos. (You’re welcome for that imagery.) The guest star is sufficiently overwhelmed by it all, and Mach-Hommy stumbles into some stream-of-consciousness shit like a more violent Kool Keith. Now that I mention it, pairing the erstwhile Dr. Octagon with DJ Muggs could make for something freaking amazing. But “Wet Bally” is shit. Sorry.

7. KOUIGN-AMANN (FEAT. THA GOD FAHIM)

Named after a delicious-ass pastry, “Kouign-amann” is as smooth as the butter that makes up a good portion of the list of ingredients. Muggs lends his collaborator an instrumental that is boom bap at its most whimsical, and Mach-Hommy and his boy Tha God Fahim both take a turn tearing the motherfucker to pieces. This brisk jog through the park is referred to in interviews by DJ Muggs as “a futuristic, inventive runaway jazz train”, and while this song is nowhere near as meandering and self-serving as that description could lead you to believe, I kind of get what he means, as the bars seem pulled from the ether at random, molded quickly by Hommy and Fahim into the type of boasts-n-bullshit that have earned them a growing fanbase, a trait that serves both well. This was really fucking good, and now I’m also hungry, which is a weird bonus. There was no need to tack on thirty-plus seconds of Dr. Bruce Lipton’s questionable theories as a song outro, though.

8. SPENT CASINGS (FEAT. BIG CHEEKO)

“Spent Casings” acts, and rather oddly at that, as an attempt by DJ Muggs to craft a “real” song, one that actively follows typical songwriting conventions such as “including a chorus” and “long stretches of unencumbered instrumental”. And I kind of hated it, but not because eight tracks into an album is far too late to suddenly start playing by any semblance of rule. Nah, I didn’t care for this one because it fucking bored me to death, forcing my lifeless corpse to finish this write-up when all it cares about is brains. I hope you two are happy. Guest Big Cheeko’s verse and contributions to the chorus are limited in scope, range, and talent: he may be capable of much more, but you wouldn’t be able to tell after hearing his words thudding to the floor on here, and Mach-Hommy does just as poorly, if not worse somehow. Muggs even turns in an instrumental that sounds like easy-listening adult contemporary boom bap, which isn’t very appealing. While “Stain Glass”, which, if you recall, is also terrible, at least had a bit of creativity behind it, “Spent Casings” goes all-in on its mediocrity. It is what it is.

9. NTM (FEAT. THA GOD FAHIM)

Features two separate DJ Muggs beats that easily could have been deployed as dark, immense, and dope-as-shit interludes on mid-1990s-era Cypress Hill albums, even with the little blippy glitchy sound effect randomly thrown about that I actually kind of liked. Unfortunately, “NTM” also features performances from two dudes who don’t seem to know what to do with the beats in question. Tha God Fahim opens the track with a verse displaying a flow that seemingly overcompensates for how slow Muggerud’s background music is, dragging each and every syllable out like trash bags to the curb just to make sure he hits a word count, I guess. Mach-Hommy never catches fire either, but at least he displays two separate ways to suck: in the half of “NTM” he shares with his friend, he opts to spit off-beat bars that cram in as many words as possible, while the second part of the song is devoted to his A$AP Rocky-esque distorted vocals for the full length of the entire fucking verse. Can someone please hook me up with an instrumental? It’d be a real shame if it was left to die like this.

10. BÔN NWIT

After what felt like an infinite number of eternities, DJ Muggs and Mach-Hommy finally end up on the same page again, as “Bôn Nwit” (“good night” in Haitian Creole) is a keeper. Muggerud’s instrumental; is haunting and hypnotic, and he doesn’t bring in any percussion until halfway through Hommy’s single verse, confident in believing that his beat didn’t require any until that very moment. This may end up being my favorite instrumental of the entire project, and Mach-Hommy selfishly (thankfully so) keeps it all to himself, spitting bars with the bravado of a rapper with twice the level of expertise, riding the beat flawlessly. Tuez-Les Tous is fairly hit-and-miss and polarizing as all hell, but if “Bôn Nwit” isn’t on your list of favorite tracks here, I really don’t know how we can remain friends. And with that, we’re done.

Apparently the following bonus tracks appear on what Muggs has cleverly (can you feel the sarcasm dripping out of your phone screen) called the “Hashashin Edition” of Tuez-Les Tous. It was limited to just three hundred copies, but the extra songs themselves aren’t that difficult to find.

11. THE FOWLER’S SNARE (FEAT. THA GOD FAHIM)
The hook on “The Fowler’s Snare” leads me to believe that this was originally intended to be the title track to Tuez-Les Tous before our host decided to fuck with the listener by changing its name to (*checks notes*)…a biblical reference to a man trapping birds. Yep, that tracks. Muggs turns in an instrumental that is certainly melodic and earworm-y, but I didn’t care for it all that much: personally, I’m not looking to DJ Muggs for optimism. But that's likely just me, as that’s the only real critique I have for this song: both Mach-Hommy and Tha God Fahim (who, interestingly, does not open “The Fowler’s Snare”) sound comfortable living in their respective truths, delivering their threats to rob and/or murder you over generic Disney soundtrack-lite melodies, which does make the contradiction off-putting, I have to say.

12. MAMI WATA (FEAT. YOUR OLD DROOG & THA GOD FAHIM)

The final song of the evening is the shit-talking session “Mami Wata”, on which Mach-Hommy, flanked by his friends and frequent collaborators Tha God Fahim and Your Old Droog (who receives much more screen time than you would expect, given that this isn’t his song), is accompanied by a minimalist Muggs boom bap banger of a beat. The track zips along merrily, as Droog’s Nas-esque vocals may have you wishing for a DJ Muggs Vs. Esco project before thinking better of it (because it would be terrible, that’s why). Hommy’s indifference to the well-being of those around him translates into engaging boasts-n-bullshit, and Fahim brings up the rear with some quickie bars that rate as his best contribution of the entire project. “Mami Wata” is fucking flames. If only the rest of Tuez-Les Tous had this type of impact.

THE LAST WORD: So I’m going to be upfront with you two: I didn’t love Tuez-Les Tous. There were many a moment where I found my attention drifting away from Mach-Hommy’s jaded and quizzical worldview, but that’s more the fault of DJ Muggs than Hommy, as Muggerud’s musical backing, for the first time since Gems from the Equinox, doesn’t consistently bang. There are slip-ups throughout the project, tracks where the artists fail to connect with one another on any sort of level, and that will wear down your patience. However, there are enough songs on Tuez-Les Tous on which Muggs and Hommy appear to be in sync, and those are among the finest productions in the entire Muggs pantheon. I’ll admit I’m not the most familiar with Mach-Hommy’s work – I’ve heard him here and there, but the scarcity of his work on the Interweb is a bit of a deterrent. His performances on here, however, are mostly solid, his skewed viewpoint of street life bringing with some newer and much-needed perspectives to our chosen genre, and I’ll be sure to look out for his work moving forward. Tuez-Les Tous is far from a perfect album, and could be the worst of his renaissance period so far (still haven’t listened to KAOS so I’m forced to reserve judgment there), but even the worst Muggs project (I feel like I have to add the qualifier “hip hop” here, to ensure you two aren’t thinking about Dust or his dubstep period) has highlights, and the very best songs on Tuez-Les Tous are motherfucking transcendent and are worthy of your time. Plus, it’s available to stream, so you don’t have any excuse. I wouldn’t necessarily part with my money over it, though. Not right away, anyway – maybe Muggs’ Soul Assassins website will have a clearance sale at some point?

-Max

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