Today, underground rap auteur Mike Ladd drops “Murder Is,” a lacerating new single from Nonechosen, his debut album for Backwoodz Studioz due out November 6. Atop horror film string stabs and a queasy trap hi-hat stumble, he is unsparing in his assessment of who has blood on their hands in service of neoliberal colonialism: the consultant class, think tank policymakers, equivocating media, clergymen, the carceral state, and the various tentacles of multinational capital.

Accompanying the single is the disorienting bootcamp nightmare that is the “Murder Is” video. It’s pulled from an album-length film accompaniment to Nonechosen directed by Ben Gordon, also out on November 6.

Watch the “Murder Is” video — directed by Ben Gordon — here. 

Executive produced by Preservation, Nonechosen — Ladd’s first solo album in over a decade — is dense, literary, and urgent as reflects on climate collapse, empire, Black history, fascism, addiction, survival, family, and hard-won gratitude. It’s a powerful return that bridges his visionary and lacerating turn-of-the-millennium work with the political, cultural, and spiritual chaos of the present. Pre-save / pre-order Nonechosen here. 

Throughout Nonechosen, Ladd sounds invigorated and ambitious. He channels Gil Scott-Heron on the wounded space-blues of lead single “Twenty Five,” drops cutting wisdom through the cloudy noise of “Ohio,” and revels in chaos on the overdriven “Face Eater.” Over the bleating brass and chipmunk soul of “Time Has,” Ladd affirms that doomerism in the face of collapse is simply a failure of imagination — as much a mission statement as anything on the album. 

On November 15, Mike Ladd will debut Nonechosen tracks live at Music Hall Of Williamsburg supporting Backwoodz labelmates Armand Hammer. Tickets and more info available here. 

Watch the “Time Has” video — directed by Will Sicot-Carr — here. 

Mike Ladd. Those who know say the name with a certain reverence. If you will allow an imperfect analogy, Ladd is underground hip-hop’s Terrence Malick: an uncompromising auteur whose early work was both unconventional and critically acclaimed before he abruptly withdrew from the scene he helped build and decamped to Paris, never to be heard from again.

Of course, the reality is more complex than the legend.

Mike Ladd never stopped making music; over the years he’s popped up on all sorts of unexpected collaborations—who could forget his searing appearance on billy woods’ Aethiopes—soundtracked a Netflix series, and worked with visual artists in settings like the Pantheon in Paris. That’s not even counting all the stages he ripped as part of various touring bands and live acts.

Still, Ladd’s last solo album was more than ten years ago, and his magnum opus Welcome to the Afterfuture dropped in early 2000. If we are going to follow the Malick analogy, Nonechosen is Mike Ladd’s The Thin Red Line. A granite testament to the fact that the artist has evolved and grown, but maintains the same gravitas that made his name what it is.

Here we are, deep into the Afterfuture and it’s as though Ladd had always been waiting for this time, building towards this moment. “Now you know why I remained in my station,” he raps on Nonechosen, confident that his patience has paid off.

Nonechosen is a solo album, but Ladd will be the first to tell you that he didn’t do it alone; He has always worked with old friends. No Surrender and Tom Degeeter collaborated on respective tracks. Once Mike got the record 95% there with his own production, he passed it on to Preservation, who, with a few well-placed tweaks, elevated the project to new heights.

Backwoodz Studioz is honored to be part of Ladd’s comet-like return, and excited to properly introduce this seminal artist to a new generation of hip-hop fans while they’re at it.