Music / Lil Ugly Mane

Morose and lugubrious.

Influences:

• Triple Six Mafia, Mobb Deep, Tommy Wright III, Gravediggaz

Describe Lil Ugly Mane here.

Well, we'll try.

Travis Miller (known as Slumpy D, Shawn Kemp, Across, Near, Vudmurk, Lyle Ugleman etc., born May 13, 1984) is an American musician from Richmond, VA that gained a significant amount of buzz for his work in the hip-hop genre under the name Lil Ugly Mane. Prior to this, he was in a number of underground music projects, including a Black Metal band named Vudmurk, and a harsh noise/power electrics project under numerous aliases.

After releasing two albums- PLAYAZ CIRCLE in 2011 and Mista Thug Isolation in 2012, he quickly became a breakout star of the burgeoning underground hip hop scene. He later would shock his fanbase in 2013 by announcing that his upcoming release would be his final one, citing disillusion with fame. Despite such a short discography, his work is exceptionally varied- most of his work is self-produced and takes cues from old 90s hip-hop, jazz, metal, abrasive noise, and more.

In 2015, after 5 years and a uncommonly massive amount of music, Lil Ugly Mane called it quits, that is until 2017 when he released another single under that alias named "Uneven Compromise". Currently, he releases his newest projects as Bedwetter: his first album under that alias was released in the same year.

In 2021, Miller made a surprise return to the Lil Ugly Mane moniker by dropping VOLCANIC BIRD ENEMY AND THE VOICED CONCERN, which marked a Genre Shift into 90s-style Alternative Rock and plunderphonics.

Discography:

• DEY BOUT 2 FIND YO BODY, 2010
• PLAYAZ CIRCLE(PRE MEDITATION)THE FIRST PROPHECY PREVIEW MIXTAPE (REAL MURDER POSSE UNDERGROUND VERSION), 2010
• U AINT FROM MY HOOD and BUST A SAG, 2011
• CRIMINAL HYPNOSIS​:​UNRELEASED SHIT, 2011
• MISTA THUG ISOLATION, 2012
• SUPASONIC (as Shawn Kemp), 2012
• UNEVEN COMPROMISE, 2012
• THREE SIDED TAPE Volumes One and Two, 2013 and THIRD SIDE OF TAPE, 2015
• PRELUDE TO PANOPTICON: ON DOING AN EVIL DEED BLUES, 2013
• ABSENCE OF SHITPERSON, 2014 (an instrumental collection of MISTA THUG ISOLATION songs, plus material from his work as Across)
• THE WEEPING WORM, 2014 (unreleased songs considered but not used for MISTA THUG ISOLATION)
• TRICK DICE (with Nickelus F), 2015
• Oblivion Access, 2015
• Volume 1: Flick Your Tongue Against Your Teeth and Describe the Present (as Bedwetter), 2017
• VOLCANIC BIRD ENEMY AND THE VOICED CONCERN (2021)
• Singles (2023)

Tropes:

• And I Must Scream: The narrator of ''Grave Within A Grave'' is stuck in his own grave after he has died and been buried, being conscious of his death, but unable to move his body.
• Artist Disillusionment: Cited as part of the reason why Travis Miller killed the project. Invoked heavily during parts of Oblivion Access, namely the final track, and on On Doing an Evil Deed Blues, which has the following message as a description:
  ""i quit" by the descendents is way more articulate and well crafted than "on doing an evil deed blues". had i actually taken the time to listen to later descendents records, i would have probably just posted a youtube version of that song and a link to the google image results for "dalai lama laughing" rather than spending any time whatsoever making my own song."
• Body Horror: Hideous Disfigurements, a song about a botched suicide and its aftermath.
• Careful with That Axe: The one song that has surfaced from his work as Vudmurk on the Three Sided Tape.
• Caps Lock: Used quite frequently in his album and song titles.
• Darker and Edgier: While dark and vulgar, most of his releases have a certain degree of tongue-in-cheekiness, being mainly inspired by horrorcore and memphis rap. Oblivion Access on the other hand is his darkest and most serious album, with musical production bordering on Dark Ambient/Industrial territory and lyrics completely devoid of any comedy elements.
• Even Evil Has Standards: In the second part of Uneven Compromise, he's very distressed to learn about the fate of his drug-addled friend's children. They're all dead, presumably as a result of getting in the way of the friend's addiction to hard drugs.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Played with- originally inverted during early releases where Ugly Mane would pitch his voice up to an unrealistic falsetto- in later releases he would adapt a gravelly, bass heavy voice, then his most recent releases are somewhere in between. Ironically, the parts of Mista Thug Isolation that sounds pitched down is closest to his speaking voice.
  • After Uneven Compromise he stopped pitch-shifting his voice altogether.
• For the Evulz: The motivation in his lyrics, at first.
• Hell Is That Noise: Once per album. Sometimes several.

• Intercourse with You: Mona Lisa Overdrive
• Last Note Nightmare: Uneven Compromise, and the penultimate song of Mista Thug Isolation.
• Lighter and Softer / New Sound Album: VOLCANIC BIRD ENEMY AND THE VOICED CONCERN. Whilst the lyrical themes are no less dark and depressing, musically it's far more mellow and indebt to sampledelic Alternative Rock than hip hop.
• Machine Monotone: Used in Collapse and Appear.
• Madness Mantra: The climax of Man Wearing a Helmet, all the way to the end.

• Ominous Music Box Tune: The first part of Uneven Compromise.

• Sampling: The amount of samples he uses would take up an entire separate page. Everything from Mobb Deep to Charles Manson to old jazz records.

• Take That!: "WATCHING DUDES CLAMOR AND COMPETE TO BE THE "FIRST" TO LEAK A RECORD IS LIKE WATCHING SOME DARK PEDO-CUCKOLD FANTASY GAMESHOW WHERE THE WINNER GETS CYBERWANKED AND TOLD THEY ARE COOL BY TEENAGE BOYS FOR ANOTHER MAN'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS."
  • The entirety of Oblivion Access could be viewed as this.
  • While Intent and Purulent Discharge can be the obligatory diss track on people who read too much into the lyrics, it may as well be a Take That! towards Rap Genius community.

• Word Salad Lyrics: Heavily addressed in Intent and Purulent Discharge:
  What's it all mean?
  What's he saying when he says it?
  What's the underlying topic?
  What's the motive in the message?
  But what if he was bored and there was no between the lines
  It was a way to pass the time, he liked the way it rhymed.
• Word Salad Title: Basically every other title from Oblivion Access.
  • Absence of Shitperson elevates this to an artform. The titles themselves have no indication or hint as to what song they're instrumental versions of. Combined, they create a nonsensical dadaist tract:
  THE FAT WOMAN
  IS NEVER LACTATING
  HER CHILDREN ARE STARVING
  RATS SNIFF OUT POISON
  KIDS LIVING IN DUST BUILDINGS
  THE WIND JUST DESTROYS THEM
  THE OPERATOR THAT CONNECTED YOU
  INJECTED HIMSELF WITH PISS
  WHILE YOU WERE ON HOLD
  AND DIED INSTANTLY ENDLESSLY