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Recent Articles By Andrew Friedman

National Features

  • Houston Press
    "It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"

    For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.

    By Chris Vogel
  • SF Weekly
    The Candidate

    Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.

    By Matt Smith
  • The Pitch
    How Not To Be a Rap Star

    First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.

    By Nadia Pflaum
  • Village Voice
    Project Runaway

    What becomes a gossip columnist most?

    By Michael Musto

A surefire way to beat the sophomore jinx includes making a good debut album with a fatal flaw, then correcting that flaw the second time around. El-P's first album was lo-fi dystopian rap brilliance — but it was a lot of brilliance to handle, with multiple five-minute concept jams about time- travel and step-parents. I'll Sleep When You're Dead contains shorter and tighter songs — and is therefore better. Tracks like "Up All Night" and "EMG" are almost catchy, while the anti-war screed "Dear Sirs" is huge. El-P even raps about conformity with Trent Reznor on the hook ("Flyentology") and makes that sound good — ensuring that he's still the least corny "abstract" rapper on the planet.

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