Jobie's Bite-Sized Music Reviews #18: Government Plates (album) - Death Grips

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Government Plates is an experimental hip hop album by Death Grips. It is the band's third full-length album, following No Love Deep Web. Interestingly, it is the shortest Death Grips album, clocking in at only 11 tracks (their other albums usually have 13 or more tracks). The album kicks off in a similar fashion to No Love Deep Web, with a bass heavy track, “You Might Think He Loves You for Your Money but I Know What He Really Loves You for It’s Your Brand New Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat”, starting off the album with a bang. While featuring a bass drop that is nowhere near as stark or goosebumps-inducing as the bass drop in “Come Up And Get Me” (the opening track to No Love Deep Web), it still gets the listener pumped to listen to the rest of the album, and sounds amazing. The overall sound of the album is similar to No Love Deep Web, but quite distinct. The instrumentals and vocals in Government Plates are stranger than that of No Love Deep Web. For instance, “This Is Violence Now (Don't Get Me Wrong)” features an instrumental that sounds like the rapid fire of sci-fi blasters, coupled with a few other strange samples. Despite this unusualness, tracks like “This Is Violence Now (Don't Get Me Wrong)” are very enjoyable to listen to, and have an added quality of making Government Plates stand out from other albums. Lyrically, Government Plates does not have nearly as many (non-repeated) lyrics as the previous two albums. This drew criticism from many music reviewers, but, in my opinion, the album's tracks sound great, despite the reduced lyrical content. This is likely due to Death Grips' distinct, chaotic instrumentals sounding fantastic, like they did in No Love Deep Web and The Money Store. Plus, the lyrics that are there fit the instrumentals very well – take the track “This Is Violence Now (Don't Get Me Wrong)”, for example. The repetition of “This is violence now” is paired with the firing of sci-fi blasters, as mentioned before, matching the instrumental on that track well. Despite all of the praise for the album that I just spewed out, this album did, admittedly, take two listens to really appreciate, which is usually not the case for albums that I like. This may have been due to the shift in sound present on this album, which deviates from No Love Deep Web quite a bit. Whatever the case, I warmed up to this album after a second listen, so you may need to listen to this album more than once to decide whether or not you enjoy it. My favorite tracks from the album are “You Might Think He Loves You for Your Money but I Know What He Really Loves You for It’s Your Brand New Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat”, “This Is Violence Now (Don’t Get Me Wrong”), “I’m Overflow”, and “What I Want (Fuck Who’s Watching)”. Overall, Government Plates is a welcome, unusual sound shift from the group's previous effort, No Love Deep Web. The reduced lyrical content is redeemed by Death Grips' killer instrumentals, and how well its lyrics match said instrumentals. You may need one or two listens to appreciate the album, but I still recommend that anyone who listened to and enjoyed The Money Store and No Love Deep Web check out this album.

Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/album/3T01oOjbrox1jz0pR112oV

Amazon Music Link: https://www.amazon.com/Government-Plates-Explicit/dp/B078X2VKCF

Apple Music Link: https://music.apple.com/us/album/government-plates/1333433274