By Taylor-Brittany Ford

OUT NOW LIFESAVAS “GUTTERFLY” QUANNUM

When Lifesavas pressed the first copies of Gutterfly, they convinced everyone the album was based on an unfinished blaxploitation film, abandoned because of the sudden death of its director. Even their publicist believed it. When they buckled in an interview for Wax Poetics and admitted the hoax, that shouldn’t have been a surprise. Lifesavas wanna have fun, and they won’t compromise their flow to do it. Lyrics Born and Blackalicious had the same introspective yet self-satirizing lyrics: music you’d play at a prom with less chiffon than beer and laughing gas. Gutterfly’s samples are golden and happy—even when tracks like “The Warning” layer on extra-dark bass elements and warbly sci-fi samples, I can’t quite believe Lifesavas have a bite bigger than their bark. And I’m just fine with that.