Separately, Mad Static and Tron Jovi have each amassed extensive catalogs that have helped to push Milwaukee hip-hop to unexpected and unconventional places. Together, the accomplished emcee and the producer are traversing new terrain as They Want Blood. The duo released its self-titled debut album last Friday and performed the material together in a live setting for the very first time at Canni the following night.
The project took shape after Mad Static (prolific Milwaukee rapper James Jones) and Tron Jovi (prolific Milwaukee producer Martin Defatte, who’s also a member of Guerrilla Ghost and Diamond Life) met when they both opened for Blueprint at The Cooperage. They struck up a friendship over time and, in recognizing their shared musical interests, Defatte asked Jones if he be interested in applying lyrics and vocals to “a stockpile of beats” he had written.
“I think the sound is different than Guerrilla Ghost because he had the luxury to pick from a few years of beats that had been stockpiled and he picked what suited him, some of which were really new,” Defatte says. “He tended to gravitate to stuff with a lot of melody, and he’s got a very melodic delivery himself. It was a really easy collab since we were friends first.”
That collaboration can be heard on They Want Blood, a 10-track debut released on CD and digitally on Defatte’s Triple Eye Industries label. Collectively, the effort showcases a different side of each artist. One consistent aspect the album shares with its members’ other endeavors, however, is the blunt and brash approach it takes. Over a span about 35 minutes, the pair pulls no punches as they address the ongoing awfulness of a second Trump presidency (“We Tried To Tell ‘Em”), corporate greed (“They Want Blood”), and denouncing problematic musicians who were once influences (“Kill Yr. Idols”).
Along the way, Chuck Jones (a.k.a. Guerrilla Ghost vocalist Bad Graphics Ghost) joins in to provide some bars on “Dead As Dead Can Be” and “Scary Hoes.” If you’re a fan of Mad Static and you’d like to hear him in an entirely new way, listen to They Want Blood now and watch the project perform live at The Cooperage on Sunday, February 15 as part of a show that also features BLAX, Modern Tigers, Dana Coppa & Mike DNA, Youth Energy, and Je’Love.
