The Money Store

Death Grips formed in Sacramento, California, in December 2010, comprising vocalist Stefan Burnett (a.k.a. MC Ride), drummer Zach Hill, and producer Andy Morin.^[6] The group first attracted significant attention in 2011 with the release of their debut mixtape, Exmilitary, which was made available as a free digital download.^[6][7] The project received widespread critical notice and helped characterize the group's abrasive fusion of alternative hip-hop, industrial music, and hardcore punk.^[8] Around the same period, Hill was already known for his work in the math rock band Hella.^[7]

In February 2012, Death Grips signed to the major label Epic Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music. The signing drew attention given the group's experimental style and prior independent releases.^[4] The band also announced that they intended to release two albums within the same year, with The Money Store scheduled for April and a second project planned for later in the year.^[4] Much of the material for The Money Store had already been recorded before the deal was finalized, and the label reportedly allowed the group to retain creative control over their output.^[7]

The rollout for The Money Store included several pre-release promotion: the album was first hinted at with the release of a music video for the track "Blackjack" in February 7, 2012,^[9] followed by the release of the track "Get Got" in February 27,^[10] both of which were posted online for free the following day.^[11] In March 13, Death Grips released the track "Lost Boys".^[12] In March 27, they released the music video for the song "The Fever (Aye Aye)", followed by a free download.^[13]

On April 10, the song "I've Seen Footage" was released for free download on their official SoundCloud page. The album was leaked on April 14, and the band uploaded a complete version to their YouTube channel and SoundCloud account.^[3]

The album cover depicts a female masochist, with "Death Grips" carved into her chest, on the leash of a smoking female sadist. The image is painted by Sua Yoo, an artist with whom Death Grips had worked in the past. They later appeared on the album art for the band's 2015 soundtrack album, Fashion Week. It originally appeared in a zine, but the band name carved into the submissive's chest was added afterwards.^[14][15] The non-explicit variant of the album cover includes a white bar with the album name printed across it, censoring the breasts.

In May 4, Death Grips announced via Facebook that they had cancelled their upcoming tour dates in support of The Money Store in order to finish the recording of their second record, No Love Deep Web, stating "[sic] we are dropping out to complete our next album NO LOVE. see you when it's done. (there are no longer any scheduled shows)".^[16]

In September 10, a song titled "@DeathGripz", named after their Twitter username, was released as the final installment of the Adult Swim Singles Program 2012. The group had stated earlier that it was an unreleased cut from The Money Store.^[17]

More information Aggregate scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.4/10[18]
Metacritic	81/100[19]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The A.V. Club	B+[20]
The Guardian	[21]
Los Angeles Times	[22]
Mojo	[23]
MSN Music (Expert Witness)	A−[24]
NME	6/10[25]
Pitchfork	8.7/10[26]
Q	[27]
Spin	8/10[28]

Close

The Money Store received critical acclaim upon release.^[19] Music journalist Jim Carroll of The Irish Times summarized: "MC Ride, Andy Morin and Zach Hill set out to create an intense, spectacular, feral racket and succeed in spades. Once you get used to the fact that they're fuming, you'll thrill to the raw, fractured, incessant and apocalyptic barrage of noise as Death Grips prepare for the end of the world".^[29]

Jayson Greene of Pitchfork assigned the album a "Best New Music" label and wrote that "The Money Store is about as intellectual an experience as a scraped knee. But it's just as good at reminding you that you're alive."^[26] Spin, while very positive towards The Money Store, felt it was inferior to Exmilitary for the rejection of the mixtape's use of samples, specifically "the raw, imperfect way that samples rub up against one another."^[28] The album also notably received a "10" from music critic Anthony Fantano, the first of nine in his YouTube channel.^[30][31]

Less satisfied reviewers included Louis Pattison of NME, who felt its "utterly convincing" dystopian vision was ruined by an "alienating" presentation of themes that lacked a goal.^[25] The Guardian's Alex Macpherson, who claimed Burnett's "one-note" vocal performance distracted the listener from the instrumentals' "careening thrill;"^[21] and Sputnikmusic, who panned the "poor taste" blend of genres and production elements and "MC Ride's consistently incoherent mumbling and meme-of-the-day approach to making hooks" that muddled the record's lyrical complexities.^[32]

Samples

• "Get Got" contains a sample from "Yereyira" by Papito (ft. Iba One).

• "Double Helix" contains samples from "Mother" by John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band, "Hwa Heda" by Cheb Wasila, "Blue Jay Way" by The Beatles, and "Tinariwen" by Group Anmataff.

• "System Blower" contains samples from an audio of the Williams sisters grunting, and audios from the Vancouver Skytrain.

• "The Cage" contains samples from "Death Grips (Next Grips)" by the band.

• "Punk Weight" contains samples from "Hwa Heda" by Cheb Wasila, and "Manic Depression" by Jimi Hendrix.

• "Fuck That" contains samples from "Abandé" by Yeli Fuzzo.

• "Bitch Please" contains samples from "Thru The Walls" and the music video for "Takyon (Death Yon)" by the band.

• "Hacker" contains samples from "The Ditty" by the Blue Devils, and "Poser Killer" by the band.

• Stefan Burnett – vocals
• Zach Hill – production
• Andy Morin – production
• Angelica Cob-Baehler – A&R
• Sua Yoo – cover drawing