Wisconsin rapper milo (who’s moniker and content is often stylized with lowercase letters) has been active for a few years now, having emerged at the top of a post-MySpace Internet scene. In this time period, projects like I wish my brother Rob was here, Cavalcade and the double EP Things That Happen At Day/Things That Happen At Night put him at the forefront of this generation’s verbose rappers. It was only natural that he would associate with Nocando, Busdriver, and Open Mike Eagle in half record label/half beat junkie and dexterous rapper milieu Hellfyre Club. In his first year under Nocando’s record label, milo had proven that if he had not turned the corner musically, he was about to. Last summer’s Cavalcade included some of his most immediate hooks to date and served as a brilliant segue into Hellfyre’s landmark compilation Dorner vs. Tookie, on which milo’s “ecclesiastes” appears.
Since Dorner, Hellfyre vets Open Mike Eagle and Busdriver have dropped two of the most inspired rap albums of the year. With his first official full-length, a toothpaste suburb, milo has followed suit. a toothpaste suburb features production that’s fitting for someone who has released an entire mixtape of himself rapping over Baths instrumentals. It’s also as laid back as what milo has had to offer over the last three years. It’s the perfect template for him to shift between his three gears: rapping, singing, and spoken word. In those three gears, milo will go back and forth between telling stories and waxing philosophical. Upon the release of a toothpaste suburb, he shared the bandcamp link, calling the album his “ode to the armchair philosophy i no longer believe in.”
Whether or not milo buys into what he espouses on a toothpaste suburb is only relevant going forward, because this so-called armchair philosophy makes for an adequate enough vehicle for his most developed collection of songs yet. Half of the songs run over three minutes and milo occasionally breaks his smooth monotone when he delivers hooks on tracks like “in gaol” and “you are go(o)d to me”. Otherwise, he’s confidently delivering these slam poetry-worthy verses with such ease that he occasionally sounds like he’s giving a lecture.
In fact, milo represents a smaller part of a larger end to the harmful conscious/ignorant dynamic that has plagued D-rate hip-hop analysis and curmudgeonly middle-aged rappers’ lyrics for years. milo’s particular braininess, interests, opinions, topics, and cultural references are a reflection of the world that milo is living or has lived in that he is inviting the listener into. More noteworthy than usual are the appearance of guest artists on a toothpaste suburb. The noteworthy ones are Open Mike Eagle, Busdriver, and Kool A.D. Of those three, Kool A.D. is the highlight for meand really makes a splash with his rhymes, opting for an absurd sense of humor to balance out milo’s downcast disposition on “in gaol”. The other guests on this album complement milo rather well, which is a tall order considering that milo’s aesthetic gives off the appearance of being exclusionary.
a toothpaste suburb stands tall with some of the year’s stronger rap releases. milo’s first full-length is another hit in what is starting to take shape as a new wave of alternative rap. Less than 15 months removed from spectacular releases from YC the Cynic, Mick Jenkins, and Signor Benedick the Moor, a toothpaste suburb solidifies milo’s place on that list of indispensable emcees that populate rap’s teeming underground.
Rating: 4/5