The old masters understood the inherent contradictions between artistic compromise and creative integrity. Guru indicted those who “sold their soul to have mass appeal.” EPMD condemned the shamelessness of crossover seekers. But we’re now approaching a second generation raised to believe that greed is good, popularity always directly correlates to skill, and the only reasonable response to late Capitalism is to “get the bag.”

The rebellion against this corporate hegemony has been circulating in some form or another since the late ‘90s underground. But credit the genius of Shirt’s new work with producer Jack Splash, I Turned Myself Into Myself for making this subversion feel entirely fresh. These are nine avant-garde broadsides that bang. Spoken word darts. Someone writing a poem on the sidewalk outside the gallery– maybe more innovative in their approach than the ordained canvasses on the inside. It is the sound of stained glass orthodoxy being shattered by a baseball bat. Think something like the avant-garde minimalism of Ka crossed with the sentences of Nikki Giovanni, but steeped in the subway car rumble through contemporary Queens. This is an album that understands that the devil’s greatest trick is mobilizing our collective fear, to render us catatonic and indifferent to so much possibility around us.

“Marni Invisible Cloak” is double-barreled manifesto. Shirt meditates on the nearly invisible line between genius and insanity. He evokes Walt Whitman’s claim that he (and all worthwhile artists) contain multitudes. You can tell in my voice I might not come to the party: A unique communique from an artist repulsed by the corruption of culture for profit. Over processed guitars and mournful pianos, Shirt recites an elegy for those who refuse critical thought à la Bell Hooks, and those who never reach their full potential because they are perpetually settling for less (while always trying to reap more). Cold facts in searing language. As he says, “I make art from a frozen glimpse/I got the mindset of them boys in Timbs.” It happens in this moment and maybe never again.