Barely known outside of his home city, weirdo rapper Sharkula is a celebrity throughout the street corners and train platforms of Chicago, where he's been hawking his homemade mixtapes and CD-Rs since the '90s. A few independent labels have pressed his music to vinyl, and he's been the subject of at least one feature-length documentary. Prune City is his first collaboration with Mukqs (Max Allison of the Hausu Mountain label), and it'll immediately get you up to speed with Sharkula's style if you've never heard him before. Completely freestyling every bizarre thought that crosses his mind, he's more down to earth than Kool Keith or Sensational, but similarly exists on a plane far removed from conventional hip-hop. What's immediately striking about Sharkula is how friendly and cheerful he is. He constantly bursts out laughing mid-rhyme, and it's hard to tell exactly what's amusing him. On the few occasions where his words veer towards anything sexual, he immediately insists that he's not a male chauvinist. His lyrics are far from mature, and he frequently lapses into bathroom talk, but like Lil B, if you look past the profanity, his unfailing sense of optimism is unmistakable, and sometimes downright inspirational. As for Mukqs' production, it's similarly fractured and unsteady, but it lumbers along, supporting Sharkula's ramblings without overshadowing them. The beats are a bit darker and more haunting on tracks like "Hitchhiking on the Mic Device," but it feels more like some sort of Halloween attraction than something that's actually frightening. Other tracks like "The Love Boat" have more relaxing, almost new age-like synth tones, even if the beats are still booming and somewhat cluttered. Refreshingly out of step with anything else happening in the world of hip-hop, this tape is a singularly amusing oddity. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi

1		Wipe Your Booty with a Bandana
2		Expand Your Mind
3		Hitchhiking on the Mic Device
4		Mustache Like Pringles
5		Bigass Beard
6		Screamin' on Your Booty
7		The Love Boat

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