''Emergency Rations'' is the second EP by American rapper

Mr. Lif Jeffrey Michael Haynes (born December 28, 1977), better known by his stage name Mr. Lif, is an American rapper from Boston, Massachusetts. While being praised because of his political lyrics, he has released two studio albums on Definitive Jux ...

, released on June 25, 2002, by

Definitive Jux Definitive Jux was a record label based in New York City. It was co-founded in 1999 by El-P and Amaechi Uzoigwe. History Definitive Jux was initially known as Def Jux. However, popular hip hop label Def Jam Recordings sued Def Jux over the name ...

. It was recorded at Bandulero Sound in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Boston Butta Beats in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, and The Pool Room in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The song "Phantom" was featured on the soundtrack to the 2003 video game ''

Tony Hawk's Underground ''Tony Hawk's Underground'' is a 2003 skateboarding video game and the fifth entry in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series, following ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4''. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 ...

''.

Music and lyrics

''Emergency Rations'' is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

whose premise centers around Mr. Lif's fictional kidnapping presumably by

government agents Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ''e ...

. It showcases his defiant perspective on themes such as civil rights, censorship, and

U.S. foreign policy The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States of America, including all the bureaus and offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the ''Foreign Policy Agenda'' of the Department of State, are ...

. He also raps about societal ills such as

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

socialization In sociology, socialization (also socialisation – see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is the process of Internalisation (sociology), internalizing the Norm (social), norm ...

, the vapid state of

pop culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art pop_art.html" ;"title="f. pop art">f. pop artor mass art, some ...

, and the dehumanizing effects of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

. Lif's thoughtful, confrontational lyrics are backed by

Akrobatik Jared K. Bridgeman, (born May 3, 1974) better known by his stage name Akrobatik, is an American rapper from the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. He is also a part of the hip hop collective named The Perceptionists with Mr. Lif ...

and

El-P Jaime Stuart Meline (born March 2, 1975), better known by the stage name El-P (shortened from his previous stage name El Producto), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Starting his career as a member of Company Flow, he has ...

dissonant In music, consonance and dissonance are categorizations of simultaneous or successive sounds. Within the Western tradition, some listeners associate consonance with sweetness, pleasantness, and acceptability, and dissonance with harshness, unple ...

production, which evokes feelings of paranoia and alienation.

Critical reception

''Emergency Rations'' received positive reviews from critics. In ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'',

Nathan Rabin Nathan Rabin () is an American film and music critic. Rabin was the first head writer for ''The A.V. Club'', a position he held until he left the ''Onion'' organization in 2013.

highlighted the EP's "solid blast of social consciousness" and wrote that it possessed "a raw, unfinished quality that more than lives up to the urgency of its title".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's Martin Woodside called Lif "a thoughtful, often incendiary lyricist", while calling ''Emergency Rations'' "a provocative, well-crafted album that proves hard to ignore."

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

from ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' found Mr. Lif "funny" and an "angry guy". According to him, Lif used the EP as both a set up for his subsequent concept album, ''

I Phantom ''I Phantom'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Mr. Lif. It was produced mostly by alternative hip hop artist El-P, among others, at Boston Butta Beats in Boston and the New York City-based Steel Acres, The Danger Room, and Def Jux Stu ...

'' (2002), and as "an excuse to drop random science about the place of hip hop in the military-industrial complex."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. *

– vocals * Keith Atkins – engineering *

DJ Hype Kevin Ford (born May 1968), better known as DJ Hype, is a British jungle and drum and bass producer and DJ. Biography Hype first became involved in music as a teenager in 1982, assisting PJ and Smiley with their sound system Heatwave in Sout ...

– cut, production *

Edan Idan or Edan may refers to: People Given name *Edan (musician) (born 1978), American alternative hip hop artist *Edan Everly (born 1968), American guitarist, musician, singer songwriter *Edan Gross (born 1978), American child actor *Edan Milton Hu ...

– production *

– production, vocals * Fakts One – cut, production, vocals * Ray Boy Fernandes – engineering, mixing * Marc Johnson – engineering * Dan Ezra Lang – art direction, design, illustrations * Mr. Lif – primary artist, production * Nasa – engineering, mixing *

Ghazi Shami Ghazi Shami (Arabic: غازي شامي), is a Palestinian-American music executive, technologist, and entrepreneur, best known as the founder and CEO of Empire Distribution. Established in 2010 in San Francisco, California, Empire has grown into ...

– development

Charts

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2002 EPs Mr. Lif albums Definitive Jux EPs Albums produced by El-P