365 ELECTRONIC MUSIC ALBUMS IN 365 DAYS
Day 29: Death Grips — The Money Store
Genres: Hardcore Hip Hop / Experimental Hip Hop / Industrial Hip Hop
Year: 2012
Country: United States
(This is a personal opinion; I have no formal knowledge of music theory, but I love electronic music. Please keep that in mind while reading.)
"Is reggaeton the new punk?"
Not to me.
If there's one project that truly inherited punk's rebellious spirit in the twenty-first century, it's Death Grips.
Not because they sound like punk.
But because almost no modern act has challenged the music industry with the same level of chaos, aggression, and complete disregard for convention.
Death Grips emerged in Sacramento around 2010, formed by vocalist Stefan Burnett—better known as MC Ride—alongside drummer Zach Hill and producer Andy Morin.
Their debut mixtape Exmilitary was already a declaration of war.
But The Money Store was the record that transformed them into one of the defining experimental acts of the decade.
Compared to their debut, the production here feels much cleaner.
Not friendlier.
Just sharper.
More deliberate.
More dangerous.
From the opening seconds of Get Got, it's obvious that traditional song structures don't exist here.
MC Ride delivers every verse like he's fighting the microphone itself, while Andy Morin and Zach Hill build an industrial machine powered by distorted synthesizers, fractured drum programming, digital glitches, and bizarre samples that sound as if they were recovered from forgotten corners of the internet.
Sometimes the production feels influenced by IDM.
Sometimes Industrial.
Sometimes it simply stops resembling any recognizable genre.
Tracks like Lost Boys, Blackjack—one of my personal favorites—Hustle Bones, and Double Helix prove that Death Grips understood something few artists truly grasp.
Noise can be an instrument.
One of the album's most memorable moments comes when Andy Morin samples the sound of an actual motorcycle in Hustle Bones.
Not a synthesizer imitating one.
An actual motorcycle.
That's the kind of creative decision that makes this record feel completely unpredictable.
Later songs like I've Seen Footage, System Blower, and Punk Weight push even further into aggressive electronic territory, creating an atmosphere that feels closer to a cyberpunk dystopia than a dancefloor.
Throughout the album I kept imagining myself wandering through the darkest corners of a futuristic city.
Not the glamorous cyberpunk filled with neon lights.
The broken version.
The one where the internet has already consumed everything.
Where servers never sleep.
Where machines have learned how to breathe.
MC Ride's lyrics, combined with Morin and Hill's production, create a world where technology stops being a tool and slowly becomes an obsession.
It's no coincidence that the album ends with Hacker.
Because by then, it feels as though the main character belongs more to cyberspace than to reality itself.
And honestly...
That idea feels even more relevant today than it did in 2012.
PERSONAL CONCLUSIONS:
I'm not going to pretend this is my favorite branch of electronic music.
I'll always gravitate toward House, Garage House, and Deep House.
That's where my heart naturally belongs.
But ignoring the importance of The Money Store would be impossible.
Very few records reshaped experimental electronic music and alternative Hip-Hop the way this album did.
Its influence can still be heard in artists such as Machine Girl, LustSickPuppy, 1-800-PAIN, and countless others.
Beyond the music itself, Death Grips also became one of the internet's most mysterious artistic projects.
Cancelled tours.
Surprise releases.
Disappearances.
Rumors.
Silence.
Everything felt like part of the performance.
I wouldn't recommend The Money Store as someone's introduction to electronic music.
Or even experimental Hip-Hop.
But if you ever want to hear what the internet sounds like once it stops being a tool and becomes a living organism...
Listen to this record.
Just try not to get lost inside it.
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