Sy ShacklefordEx-Regenerated Headpiece front man Headsnack has returned with “Too Small To Cancel”, his first full-length album since 2020’s “Effected”. Much like 2018’s “Secret Handshake”, his latest offering also takes aim at societal ills and its myriad absurdities. Once again, he handles the production in its entirety and most of the emceeing. If the album title and cover are an indication of anything, it’s that he’s targeting social media, COVID, world violence, and cancel culture. His rhymes are informative, humorous, and thought-provoking. Though only ten tracks long, “Too Small To Cancel” has something in it for rap heads, internet nerds, and conspiracy theorists alike.
Up first is the single, “Man’s Search For Meaning”. Here, H.S. is very motivational in his lyrics, particularly the hook in which he raps about not letting your past define you, but rather refine you. “Judge Me” features Regenerated Headpiece, and has production containing samples, guitars, and keyboards. Lyrically, they call out various forms of judgement, including their own. On “HipHop Poppycock”, there’s an old school style to the song as a whole, along with the accompanying psychedelic-driven music video. Featuring Impossebulls’s emcee C-Doc, he performs some tag-teaming rhymes with Headsnack without missing a beat. Speaking of which…
…a few tracks fall short of being solid due to something overshadowing them: On “Right Hook”, H.S. layered sounds with synths, and then plays with the musical term “hook”, but doesn’t hit its mark in terms of the potential uses he could’ve had for “hook” throughout the track. Later, on “The Comet”, he features Shred Lexicon and The Real Munch. All three emcees come with it lyrically, but the DJ scratches steal the show, standing out more than the lyrics. However, on “How Not to Die” Public Enemy’s Chuck D. makes an appearance on this lyrical treatise on eating healthier, with Mista Chuck and H.S. lyrically attacking sugar and other damaging chemicals in food. It’s also worth noting that the production is built from a chopped-up sample of “Baby Come Back” by Player.
“Do the Secret Handshake” feel like, from the title alone, it was left on the cutting room floor of his 2018 album. The production is comprised of a playfully distorted beat, allowing H.S. to give his take on the COVID outbreak and the response to it. Listen to and view it here:
For the remainder of the album, we have “I Wanna Rock”, which just lyrically continues the theme of the previous track, but has more of a deeper bass and snare to make it more boom-bapish. “Under the Influence” is both a three-minute long interlude about the dangers of being brainwashed with misinformation and a musing on politics and mass media as well. And finally, the closer is “AtMostFear”. Lyrically, H.S. raps about how fear is spread through various outlets: News, social media, podcasts, and his ultimate message is not to live in fear. The title of “Too Small To Cancel” may be a reference to Headsnack’s status as an underground rap artist: Infinitesimal to the point where he can say whatever he wants without registering on cancel culture’s radar. Overall, “Too Small To Cancel” is mostly a straight listen back to front.