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Artist
Chris Orrick
12+ albums
raphip hopUSAdetroitunderground hip hop
about
Chris Orrick FKA Red Pill is the patron saint of a poisoned world. The blue-collar Michigan MC writes spiteful chants for the permanently scarred, death letters for the forgotten, surly hymns for charcoal lungs. Think Bukowski on an eloquent bender, swapping wine for whiskey, a notepad for a glowing LED screen, the race track for the recording booth. These are anthems for the irate, over-educated and under-valued. Over his last three albums ("Look At What The World Did To Us," "Instinctive Drowning," "Day Drunk") Ferndale's Chris Orrick has embodied the idea that all great art is a form of complaint. Before the alienation of the Midwestern working class became a top political cliche of 2016, the pundits could've learned everything from a quick study of his back catalogue. Chris made the generational manifestos of an ex-machinist in his mid-20s, saddled with crippling debt, substance addictions, depression, and dim job prospects. Thoreau's quiet desperation turned into a bitter yawp. He makes hip-hop to give Horatio Alger a stone cold stunner. He prophesized an American dream that swiftly turned dystopian. Then he'll balance it out by rhyming "listening to Bitches Brew," with "eating chicken vindaloo." Somehow, it puts the fun back in dysfunction. As Pitchfork said, "his pain never feels like a put on." XXL declared "if (Red Pill) is not on your radar, it's time to change that." He combines the emotional chaos of early Atmosphere with the incisive satire of Open Mike Eag
