Miami rapper SpaceGhostPurrp belongs to the lineage of misanthropic Southern rap that stretches from the Geto Boys to 2 Live Crew to Three 6 Mafia, a group he is often compared to. Like Three 6, he revels in sex and drugs while still sounding angry. Yet as much as his music borrows from the greats of the past, SpaceGhostPurrp is a product of the current state of rap, in which teenagers can build a following through YouTube videos and self-produced mixtapes offered for free download. Despite the considerable internet buzz, SpaceGhostPurrp is decidedly an underground rapper. As on Tyler the Creator’s first mixtape, Bastard, the homemade, bedroom quality of the music is an asset because it offers us a window into an idiosyncratic mind . SpaceGhostPurrp didn’t make this music assuming that a lot of people were going to hear it – in fact, nothing he does seems aimed at commercial success – and that makes his new album and first commercial release Mysterious Phonk: Chronicles of SpaceGhostPurrp, which is made up of previously released mixtape tracks and a few new tracks, an unusual and honest listen.

On opener ‘Mystikal Maze’, SpaceGhostPurrp lays out his nihilistic worldview succinctly – “I hate this fucking world/Y’all can suck my dick” – then elaborates: “I always try to smile but the world is fake/The world is a house with a yard full of snakes/I don’t have money/I don’t have cars/All I got is the truth and a couple of bars”. That worldview is mirrored in SpaceGhostPurrp’s sinister aesthetic. He eschews the big 808s of his predecessors’ raucous fight music for a more intimate sound and Mysterious Phonk sounds much more evil for it. His production is spare, built around eerie, discordant synths, rolling drums and ambient noise. At times, disquieting samples play low in the mix like the female sex sounds on ‘Elevate’ or the breathing sounds on ‘Bringing The Phonk.’ All these elements come together to create an atmosphere of quiet malice.

When the formula works, the results can be hypnotic . On ‘Grind On Me’, SpaceGhostPurrp chants “grind on me” and “I got your bitch on my dick” over a skronky and unusually melodic synth figure. The verses are rawly sexual and misogynistic come -ons delivered in SpaceGhostPurrp’s steady, deliberate flow. He isn’t a lyrical rapper but he’s a good one, able to match whatever beat he’s on. And the lack of lyricism works because it both matches the ignorant subject matter and the album’s spare, menacing atmosphere. This is unquestionably ugly music and that’s unquestionably the point.

Mysterious Phonk is released on 4AD, a label better known for acts like Bon Iver, Ariel Pink and tUnE-yArDs. SpaceGhostPurpp might not seem like he has a lot in common with those bands, but they all share a fully developed and unique aesthetic. You wouldn’t mistake a SpaceGhostPurrp song for anyone else’s and that’s a high compliment. At times the lack of melody can make the songs on Mysterious Phonk run together but that’s also a strength; it’s an album truly of one piece. For those who have the mixtapes, there’s not a whole lot of new material here, but it’s still interesting to hear the remastered tracks which sound clearer and bigger, like songs from LifeLoveA$AP without that album’s rolling beats. For newcomers, it’s a good introduction to a unique, malevolent voice on the increasingly strange rap landscape.