Admittedly, I never hopped on the Lil Ugly Mane hype train. Travis Miller, the actual name of this elusive Richmond rapper, didn’t grab me initially, but after seeing him turn away underground fame and announcing this project as defunct, I’ve been trying to give his music another chance.

In regards future output, Miller’s words carry a strong sense of finality. To quote his Bandcamp:

“THERE IS NOTHING ELSE. THE OFFICIAL FACEBOOK, WHILE STILL VISIBLE, IS INACTIVE. ASIDE FROM THIS BANDCAMP, THERE ARE NO OTHER WEBSITES OR BLOGS THAT EXIST.”

The same Bandcamp description promises the release of a boxset via Ormolycka, but how complete this compilation will be is yet to be seen. In the meantime, Miller seems to be dropping about every piece of music he’s worked on under the Lil Ugly Mane name, which has led to the release of some pretty interesting experimental hip hop.

The track “Passion Sceptre / Dert Mystery” is one instance of that, featuring an industrially tinged beat, a killer flow, and loads of vocal effects–not to mention the track’s multiple phases and 9-minute run-time. Listen to it in context on this EP over here.

It’ll certainly be interesting to take a listen to this boxset when it drops and get a bird’s-eye view of this short-live project’s twisted and strange contributions to rap music.