Happy Cinderblock Saints 2 day, y’all!
For those of you who don’t know, Cinderblock Saints is an underground rap duo consisting of Keagan Grimm and Labrynthine. The duo first came together, officially, on 2022’s self titled Cinderblock Saints EP. This first EP was met with positive responses from fans of both artists, but didn’t necessarily set the underground on fire.
That “set the underground on fire” moment would be reserved for Keagan’s next outing, 2024’s Gospell, an album that was pegged as an instant classic in the scene among those who were paying attention and grew over the course of the next year via word of mouth and Keagan’s stellar live performances, which month after month were putting him closer and closer to the top of the flyer on events like Camp Xul, Samhain Ceremony and the Super Famous Super Show.
During this time of growth for Keagan, Labrynthine released another top notch group project, this time with with underground legend and recent Dirtcore signee, J Reno, on 2024’s Armed & Devilish LP. Keagan appeared on the first single from Armed & Devilish, “Smile at Gunpoint”, keeping the Cinderblock Saints name alive.
Labrynthine and J Reno’s Armed & Devilish album, 2024
And now, the Cinderblock Saints are back with a sophomore EP that bests the first in just about every way, from technical audio quality, to audible confidence and a more clearly defined group dynamic that picks up where the best tracks on the debut, songs like “Outta My Life”, left off. If you liked Cinderblock Saints, you’ll love Cinderblock Saints 2.
The first thing that is immediately clear listening to this album is that the duo has fully figured out how to use their individual voices together for maximum impact. Labrynthine utilizes a gruff but plainspoken delivery. He’s gently describing gothic scenery and ghost stories in your ear at a volume just louder than a whisper, setting Keagan up perfectly to come through like a soulful, world weary battering ram. The dynamic is perfect and makes for a gripping listen from front to back.
Lyrically, Labrynthine paints eerie pictures here, with lyrics that put you into a dark but gothically romantic scene. He is a narrator, with lyrics like “The cemetery tree shrugs off a murder of crows, I’m no stranger to walking along those dark haunted roads, cold and alone”. There is something literary to the way he puts his verses together. His subdued delivery adds a cold distance to these bars. Technically, you could call it “horrorcore”, but this is more Edgar Allen Poe than Wes Craven. There’s a beauty to it.
Keagan, at this point, has perfected a sort of post-personal-apocalyptic preacher vibe. He’s seen terrible things and he’s here to warn you about them, but these are his own demons he is warning you about. There is a resigned humor to Keagan’s point of view. Bars like, "He's a 10 but he hollerin' bout heaven knows what, he's stressed and he talk about death too much" almost undermine his whole persona in a way that I find extremely clever and endearing, blending modern meme culture with biting self analysis to great effect.
Cinderblock Saints 2 ends with “See What Grows”, possibly the best song the duo has released to date. It opens with a spoken word section, provided by Keagan’s real life daughter, and then cuts into a classic, gruff, soulful Keagan Grimm chorus. Both rappers do what they do best on this one, Labrynthine painting a cold, gothic picture with the lyrics quoted above and Keagan airing out his past mistakes and troubles, but with a sense of optimism and pride for where he is now. All of this ends with wailing but tasteful guitars and a gentle synth ending that wraps the whole project up nicely. Cinderblock Saints 2 is excellent through and through, but “See What Grows” is worth the price of admission alone.
I sat down with Keagan (over email, but I’m pretty sure we were both sitting down) to discuss the new project, as well as the history of Cinderblock Saints and other upcoming Keagan things. Read that below and enjoy the new project, which I would highly recommend.
Robbie
DIFTUG: Let’s start at the beginning. How did you and Labrynthine meet and how did Cinderblock Saints come together as a group?
Keagan Grimm: We met around the time I rebranded, probably 2018ish. He was on my album The Obscure, we ended up doing a couple tracks together. Then when I moved to Ohio, he was just a couple hours away in Pittsburgh. We were able to get together to work on music. He was on my album Gravel Mouth. Then we worked on some other things and it just started forming into a project.
Cinderblock Saints debut EP, 2002
DIFTUG: Did you two always intend to make a Cinderblock Saints 2 or was the first record just intended as a one off?
KG: We definitely started it as just a one off. A quick EP. But people seemed to enjoy it. And we did a couple other tracks together in the interim. After a while it was pretty much like “Fuck it, wanna do another?”
DIFTUG: Between the first Cinderblock Saints record and this one, you released Gospell, which you’ve said was a leveling up point for yourself as a songwriter. What new tools did you bring with you to this new record that you maybe didn’t have in your arsenal when you made the first Cinderblock Saints record?
KG: I brought that confidence in my writing and delivery for sure. I feel really free now in that sense. I spent so long seeking approval. Hesitating. I didn’t think people would get some of my weird ass references. I sound like a chainsaw that does heroin. But I think every creative deals with confidence issues. Every good one, anyway. Now I feel that ultimate freedom of being my unabashed, loud ass self.
DIFTUG: How is the process different working within a group vs working on a solo album? What are the pros and cons of each?
KG: It’s definitely different. I do most of my writing on my own. I’m my own quality control. But in a group setting you want to play off the other persons lyrics, pick up where they left off, in a sense. It can’t sound like an album with 2 people doing verses and hooks. You want it to sound like a cohesive piece.
DIFTUG: How did the recording process on this record differ from the first one?
KG: The previous one we recorded at my house and sent everything over to Bad Mind for mixing, which is how I normally do everything, but this one we went down to Pittsburgh and worked with producer Brian Sikes Howe in his studio. Recorded everything there and he helped with the arrangement and mixed and mastered it in house. I’m not used to going to studios but it was a pretty cool experience.
DIFTUG: Odprophet is, in my opinion, one of the most criminally slept on rappers in the underground. How did he end up on this record?
KG: He came through and killed it too! We had actually a list of potential artists we considered for that track. Some didn’t happen due to other obligations, some we couldn’t really agree on. Labrynthine was the one who suggested Odprophet. They know each other a bit, and I was familiar with his work but not super familiar. But Lab showed me some of his favorite tracks from him and I was sold. He brought a style to the track that I didn’t expect and was crazy happy with. He’s dope!
DIFTUG: You got your daughter doing some spoken word vocals on this record. How did that come about?
KG: I’ve always thought it would be great to get her on something. She’s amazingly creative but not the most musically inclined. The song I put her on, “See What Grows” is honestly one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. So putting her on the intro seemed like the perfect fit.
DIFTUG: You’re already working on your next solo album, Goliath. What can you tell us about the upcoming record?
KG: It is in the works. I’ve got a stack of beats. There’s gonna be some J Reno and Bad Mind production on there, as is to be expected. But I’ve got some bangers from Famz, I just picked up a couple from Stir Crazy. I have something from Devereauxx that I’ve been working on. And I’ll even be producing a few myself.
I’m gonna be beating my chest a little on Goliath. I’m a bad motherfucker, Robbie.
DIFTUG: Next month is your first set as a solo artist at the Gathering of the Juggalos. Can you spoil all of your surprises and plans right now in this interview? If not, just spoil half of them.
KG: This is the first time I’ve been invited. So you best believe Legion is gonna be out there making noise. I’m taking the stage show up a notch and you’re gonna see the first taste of that at the Gathering.
The Sermon begins Thursday Night at 1:50am on the detonation stage.
DIFTUG: Thank you for doing this, Keagan. Anything else you need to get off your chest before we wrap this up? The more controversial and clickbaity the better.
KG: Look, all I wanna know is; out of alllll the most famous grunge singers of the 90’s. How is Eddie Vedder the ONLY one left alive? Just Eddie? Pearl Jam getting all that sweet, sweet nostalgia money?
Something don’t smell right about that.
(I’m just playing, Eddie Vedder. Don’t come after me next.)
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Grimm
xoxo