Rapper’s Suck, but Cletus Strap still wants to be one

By Matthew Becerra

Cletus Strap on a trip in New York to celebrate the release of his album. Image courtesy of Josue Marrufo (@stoopidcutie)

For a rapper who spent years avoiding the spotlight, Cletus Strap chose an intentionally difficult way to step into it. His debut album with “Rapper’s Suck”, is his first project through Earl Sweatshirt’s Tan Cressida. After years of staying behind the scenes and keeping himself out of the spotlight, Strap finally decided to embrace the attention he had spent so long avoiding.

This album marks a big transition in his career, “Rapper’s Suck” is the label’s first project from an artist other than Sweatshirt himself and a major step for Strap into a world he had admired for years. For Strap, signing to Tan Cressida was an opportunity to work alongside the rapper who had influenced him for years calling it an “honor.”

Strap had read an interview where Earl talked about wanting to build a label around “good artists”. When Strap eventually signed, that idea became real, but Earl's influence on “Rapper’s Suck” went beyond simply putting his name behind the project with him, he executive produced the album and cut 40 songs to eight, arranged them, featured and produced as well as had a creative input on art and music videos.

For Mad Max 4800, who produced six of the album’s eight songs, the decision for Strap to be signed made sense long before the paperwork existed. He remembers hearing Strap’s music years ago and recognizing something different. “I knew he was special,” Max said.

The friendship between them all grew from a shared approach to making music, to make something that feels good to the people making it. Max describes Strap as a brother, and their relationship developed around simply being creative things together.

Friend and photographer Josue Marrufo saw that same thing from another angle. He says Strap has never seemed like someone who was making music to chase whatever was popular. He watched Strap spend years experimenting and gradually building toward something bigger.

That progression became clear after Strap’s previous full-length project, “What Might Happen.” Marrufo remembers feeling that whatever came next would have to expand beyond their circle. All of that work eventually led to “Rapper’s Suck.”

Strap spent roughly two years working on it, recording songs without necessarily knowing where they would end up, a good portion of the songs were made on tour where Strap was the only rapper on the setlist . Some tracks were made months or years apart. Others came together almost accidentally.

“Chili” might be the best example.

Strap and his friends rented an Airbnb in Ventura. The song came together in the living room while a fireplace burned, the weather stayed cold outside, friends drank and people smoked on the balcony, which all became the inspiration for the lyrics in the song.

This approach matches Strap’s explanation for the album title. He doesn’t seem interested in separating the rapper from the person. Strap wants the image surrounding his music to feel as close to himself as possible. If he is going to finally step in front of the camera and microphone, he does not want to construct an entirely different personality to do it.

He wants the “goofy parts”, too.

Strap believes being a rapper is inherently corny. He sees the strange reality-TV performance that can surround rappers, the exaggerated personalities and the endless need for attention as something that can become unbearable.

But he does not reject it completely, he loves the absurdity of it and thinks music needs that aspect too. Beneath all of that, he genuinely loves the craft of rapping.

The joke in the title is that “Rapper’s Suck”, the revelation is that Cletus Strap still wants to be one anyway.