Artist Of The Day: Captain Murphy

When Adult Swim released the fantastic "Between Friends" featuring Flying Lotus and Earl Sweatshirt as part of their 2012 Singles Program, the biggest question on everyone's mind was who the third artist on the track actually was. It's fairly odd for a rapper's first track to be a collaboration with two large artists for a well known cable network, and since "Between Friends," everyone has been making guesses about who Captain Murphy actually is. Is it FlyLo rapping (he's been sharing the tracks and is featured on one)? Is it Tyler, The Creator (sounds like Tyler and has the Earl Sweatshirt/Odd Future connection)? Or is it simply someone entirely new that just knows the right people? Whoever he is, Captain Murphy has shown to be capable of releasing some fantastic music, and his first mixtape Du∆lity confirms that.

Du∆lity is a conceptually based mixtape, based around a "how-to" video on how to become a cult leader. The whole cult concept is eerie and a little uncomfortable, and the video accompaniment released with the mixtape really helps advance the concept to an even stronger emotional level. The images are trippy and almost feel they could be part of an actual cult recruitment video. But even without the concept, the music is fantastic. The beats are extremely varied, coming from producers such as Samiyam, Madlib, TNGHT, Teebs, and more, and as you can imagine from those big names, each one is top notch. He also has a knack for wordplay, comparing his anonymity and profile to both Batman and the Joker in "The Killing Joke" (16:43 in the uncut mixtape). As a whole, Murphy has already shown to be a top notch artist, and combined with the secrecy has made him into quite a hyped figure in the world of hip hop.

Wednesday is going to be a big day for Murphy, as the deluxe version of Du∆lity is released, containing the mixtape cut up into tracks as well as extra tracks and instrumentals. He's also performing the mixtape live in Los Angeles that same day, so I guess we'll finally find out who the Captain really is. He states on his Twitter page that "someone out there is gonna loose a bet and feel dumb as bricks," so I guess we're in for a surprise. For now, you can download the mixtape (as linked by Captain Murphy's Twitter) or watch the NSFW video on his website.