Misc. Day – Du∆lity

Duality is an experimental mixtape from off the wall artist Captain Murphy. This rapper/producer came bringing a huge fifteen track album with the release of a deluxe edition that included instrumentals, bringing over thirty tracks in a single release.

Captain Murphy kept his identity under wraps until finally during a live show at the Low End Theory in Los Angeles, where he revealed himself to be Flying Lotus in a cloak. Speculation has picked back up on Captain Murphy and it is believed he will release a second project in the future, hopefully sometime soon.

Duality is a roller coaster of different strange instrumentals and use of samples that relate to the occult and disturbed. While, at certain points it becomes a psychedelic trip throughout the mind of a cult leader, it uses samples from “Mind Control Made Easy (or How to Become a Cult Leader)” and “Ave Lucifer” from the Brazilian psychedelic rock band Os Mutantes. It features a wide range of samples that remind the listener of some noticeable nods to another artist MF Doom.

Doom is also known for keeping his identity a secret from the public and using many obscure samples to help create this storyboards that involve and engage the listener. Captain Murphy has small near thirty-second skits in between most of his songs that talk about how you should leave your family to become a brainwashing leader because family just simply “wouldn’t understand your decision, but you shouldn’t be around unenlightened people anyway.”

The production is really the star of the show here, the instrumentals are superb enough to survive on their own, along with the downright witty and sometimes disturbed flow coming behind makes for an outstanding combination. There are some really remarkable uses of lowering Murphy’s voice to give off a darker, more sect like vibe.

The First thing that brought my attention to this tape was back around 2013 when I first heard “Between Villains” which was a single that had features from Doom, and Earl Sweatshirt. It amazes me that Duality flew under my radar when I had actually heard of Flying Lotus and Captain Murphy, I just had no idea what to expect.

I realize now that Duality is almost four years old and one of my bigger regrets is not listening to this sooner. The samples are interesting and fresh and they allow the listener to imagine some seriously twisted images of a whole cult of people following Murphy like he is a new world leader. I look forward to whatever Captain Murphy has in store for the future and hope that we can only see more from the frankly bizarre alter ego.