From Playboi Carti to Ken Carson to Osamason to Che to 2slimey, the rage sound in the underground scene seemed to have been headed in a singular direction of crafting the most distorted quality the artist can possibly produce both sonically and aesthetically. While the rest of the underground was engaged in a race to reach the state of pure noise, Lucy Bedroque brings something entirely novel to the genre.
Formerly known as lostrushi, Lucy was considered one of the faces of digicore, with “Sisterhood” being listed second on Rate Your Music’s list of top-ranked digicore albums. Heavily influenced by the Japanese subculture, the La Familia-affiliated rapper’s works carried elements of nostalgia and angst beneath the seemingly high-energy and warm sound.
In their transition to rage music, this background allowed Lucy to bring something fresh to the oversaturated genre, leaning into electronic sound to create the aggressiveness instead of abrasiveness like many other rage artists have. Their mixtape “Unmusique,” which leans heavily into these elements, easily placed Lucy as the pioneer of the post-rage era of the underground scene. Furthermore, there was a mainstream appeal to the project as well with tracks such as “2010 Justin Bieber” going viral.
With the support from the underground scene and curiosity from mainstream, it seemed as though the next album Lucy drops would be a career-defining one. With the two seemingly different identities Lucy has built through their “Sisterhood” and “Fête de la Vanille” phase and “Unmusique” phase, it was anticipated that the upcoming album would be the one that brings these two worlds together, with “b4c” tracks hinting at it.
Prior to the album’s release, Lucy had been very particular about creating a certain atmosphere around it, with leaked images and videos hinting at a project that is much darker and mythical, even dropping a game the week leading up to album’s release where the release date was teased to lean into this tone. And finally on Sept. 18, Lucy’s highly anticipated album “c” dropped.
From the very first track, “ALL SPEAKERS GO TO HEAVEN,” the direction that Lucy is headed in terms of sound is very apparent. With the Canadian producer skai, who has worked on some of the most important rage albums such as “Flex Music” and “A Great Chaos,” Lucy adopts the messier and more distorted qualities of rage genre, but with their own unique spin to it, alternating between the howling vocals one would expect from heavy metal to their usual wistful one.
The following few tracks, “THE 9TH CIRCLE,” “SPEED DEMON,” and “STONE IN FOCUS” are some of the most notable ones with incredibly creative sound designs and flows. “THE 9TH CIRCLE” and “SPEED DEMON” particularly do an excellent job of maintaining and continuing what worked in “Fête de la Vanille” and “Unmusique.” In “STONE IN FOCUS,” Lucy samples Aphex Twin, imbuing a sort of ambiance mixed with volatility. Lucy has previously called out “larpers” who are not genuine fans of electronic music sampling Crystal Castle on Young Dabo’s stream. This viewpoint that Lucy has on sampling is noticeable on this track, as they treat it with deep understanding of the source while successfully making it their own.
Following tracks fall short in comparison to the brilliant start Lucy has to the album, however. Instead of working with the usual hyperpop and digicore producers such as egobreak, much of the tracks are by major rage beatmakers such as Pink Noise-affiliated producers Ginseng and MISOGI. The tracks produced by them, however, are fairly reminiscent of “EARDRUMMER” by Che and other songs they’ve worked on in the past, simply with Lucy’s voice added. And while these are far from being poorly produced, it’s also very difficult to claim that they are innovative in any way.
“C SECTION” is a standout from the second half of the album. This song, which made it to the tracklist last minute as it was only supposed to be featured in “b4c,” is certainly one of the more experimental attempts by Lucy, with a stutter hook that adds to its explosiveness.
While “c” technically doesn’t live up the high expectations set by the fans, it certainly has moments that listeners who’s been following Lucy’s career for an extended period of time would appreciate, with references such as the inclusion of their old lostrushi producer tag in “OROCHMARU” or the “I was comin’ up, that 2010 JB buzzin’” line in “ERASE YOUR SOCIAL.”
Verdict: “c” by Lucy Bedroque is an extremely well-crafted rage album with some extremely stellar moments, but loses its momentum with lack of freshness.
