I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead is the second official solo album from producer / emcee, El-P, who also doubles as founder of Definitive Jux and one time member of Company Flow. To say that this is a step-up from Fantastic Damage or Cannibal Ox’s The Cold Vien, would be an understatement, as El has crafted his best work yet with this album. 

     Whether it’s through the music or the lyrics, El carries around an “everything is fucked” mentality and it’s bigger than hip-hop. The “state of hip-hop” is the least of his concerns, instead the state of the world - more specifically the state of America in general – has gone to complete shit, and it comes through in his music. 

     Bastard child of the Bomb Squad, the backbone of El’s production is in the drums, which he isn’t afraid to use, abuse, and beat to death throughout the album. “EMG”, for instance, features some of the most wildly innovative drum programming seen in recent times, all stemming from classic breaks and beats you’ve heard a million times elsewhere - but never like this. The brilliant “Drive” finds El committing vehicular manslaughter with an endless array of humorous automotive references (“you riding shotty with Jesus of Nascareth”) over a chaotic assortment of dirty-dusty drums and samples. 

      El lives in a post-apocalyptic, Blade Runner-seque world where the end of everything has already come and gone. Fellow Def Jukies join him in his bleak futurama, such as Aesop Rock, who on “Run The Numbers” constantly reminds him to “find those detonators!” (not to mention adding the poignant lyric “I found a cure for cancer, but it wasn’t radio friendly”). Cage hops in on “Habeas Corpses (Dracoinan Love)”, where the duo obsess over the lone female captive on a prison ship, suggesting “you look really pretty without handcuffs on.”    

      But things are taken more seriously later on in the album. “The Overly Dramatic Truth” is El’s take on a love song, with Head Automatica’s Darryl Palumbo adding a rocked-out influence to the beautifully dark track. Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor also joins in on “Flyentology”, which finds the two agnostics talking to god, begging for life as they drop out of an airplane without a chute. This apologetic rant explains El’s frustration with religion in general, however finds him clinging to dear life by begging God forgivness. The album ends with perhaps the most disturbing song of all, “The League Of Extraordinary Nobodies”, which actually incorporates a laugh track (a first), except there’s nothing funny about what El is saying. 

     Playing like one long piece of music, this remarkably consistent album evolves from song to song, suggesting that this is to be listened to as a whole from start to finish � not on shuffle in your Ipod. El continues to make leaps and bounds as both a producer and emcee, and this album is proof positive. Make no mistake, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead solidifies El-P as Definitive Jux’s flagship artist.