This is the official full-length studio debut album from Bristol, England, United Kingdom emcee Sean Peng. Known for being 1/3 of the Creatures of Habit & 1/4 of NLP, he would go on to drop the Crazed Conductor beat tape in 2016 preceding the formation of Lost Scroll Records. Coming off the Controlled Experiment extended play preluding Trips to the Medicine Cabinet a couple years earlier, locking in with his Creatures brethren Illinformed to have him produce this next chapter of Sean’s career raising my expectations compared to both of his earlier output.
“Danka Sean” opens with a jazzy boom bap instrumental reliant towards a vibraphone sample introducing us to the titular character himself whereas “Elixir” swaps out the vibraphones in favor of pianos chippin’ off a sip of his own medicine. “Cryostasis” keeps the same aesthetics of the previous track in play undergoing the experimental process of freezing himself for later resuscitation just before “Continuum” by NLP reunites the quartet for a heavy hitting boom bap face-melter.
I felt the opera sample throughout “Bug House” stood out amongst my favorite beats on the album talking about his only interest being him fucking up your funds while “Dr. Doctor” hooks the vibraphones back up pleading for help in fear that the drugs are gonna overcome him. “Green God” by the Creatures of Habit featuring People Without Shoes stands out coasting over boom bap instrumentation naturally leading into “Bitter Sweet” featuring Life MC jazzily demonstrates the power of positive messaging.
“3rd Eye” moves on making it his mission to elevate his fans to another plateau spiritually with his music instead of being fed propaganda while “Full Moon” offers a depressive glimpse at his battle with mood swings. “Deranged Halfwits” jumps over more piano flips talking about the kind of people he’s been living with while “Humming” featuring Datkid ruggedly speaks of both of them living in a whole different dream of their own individually.
The song “Too Many Lines” begins Trips to the Medicine Cabinet’s final leg sampling soul music advising to make the most out of thing since there’s no turning back the clock while “Rotten Seeds” featuring Mothman & Scott Lark finds the trio laughing off the idea of haters not getting what they can’t have despite not having my favorite guest appearances. “Paradigm” wraps up the full-length officially in the form of 1 last boom bap track describing another day inside his own personal paradise.
Compared to the highlights both Crazed Conductor & Controlled Experiment had, Trips to the Medicine Cabinet lands right behind Eric the Red’s sophomore effort Caught Red Handed in being my 2nd favorite LP in the Lost Scroll Records canon. Illinformed’s jazzy boom bap production hits a lot harder than either one of those previous entries in Sean’s discography & the latter makes a cohesively told story themed around prescription drug abuse.
Score: 4/5
Legends Will Never Die 