Happy 20th Anniversary to Cannibal Ox’s debut album The Cold Vein, originally released May 15, 2001.
I’ve always been a big fan of books and films that create their own universes. I’m not referring to endeavors like the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” or the Game of Thrones epic; those sprawling undertakings occupy their own category. Rather, I appreciate when an author or filmmaker can fashion a unique, fleshed-out world between that solely exists between the two covers of a book or the confines of singular film.
Released 20 years ago, Cannibal Ox’s The Cold Vein paints pictures of a specific time and place, representing a vivid vision of pre-September 11th New York City. Theodore “Vast Aire” Arrington II and Shamar “Vordul Megallah” Gardner, accompanied by producer Jaime “El-P” Meline, take listeners on a 70+ minute journey through the desolate streets, deserted alleyways, and smoke-filled hallways of pre-gentrified Harlem and other blighted areas of the Big Apple.
The Cold Vein juxtaposes the lows and highs of trying to exist in NYC like few other albums. It describes the artery of pain that flows through the city, as well as the desperate hope of its denizens to find a way to transform into something that can rise above it all. And even though it came out in the spring, The Cold Vein definitely depicts urban decay in the winter, when things have definitely gotten more than a little frosty.
The album is as perfect of a storm of beats and lyrics as you’ll find. I have sung the praises of these types of team-ups, where one producer collaborates with an artist or group to put together an entire long player, and Cold Vein stands up to the best of them. Not only is it one of the best albums of the 21st Century but it’s also the best “underground” hip-hop album ever. It’s unconventional, uncompromising, and unforgiving, and definitely not crafted to pander to the lowest common denominator. However, it found a strong following and is one of the most well-regarded albums of the era.
Vast and Vordul got their starts as members of the Atoms Family. Atoms Family was a massive, 35-person collective based in NYC and products of the freestyle scene and open mic nights at spots like the Nuyorican Café. After struggling with its unwieldy huge membership, the crew whittled its numbers down to the core eight, which included most of the rappers/DJs/producers frequently associated with the crew.
Throughout the late 1990s, Atoms Family rubbed elbows with other mainstays of the NYC Underground scene, including Pumpkinhead, Siah & Yeshua daPo Ed, and Tha Juggaknots. It was also during this era that they started to build with Company Flow, and how they connected with El-P. In the Atoms crew, El-P saw a lot of young talent, and decided he wanted to launch his label, Definitive Jux, with some of the members involved.
Though Vast and Vordul were both members of the Atoms Family’s core, they had not recorded together as a separate group. As El-P discussed on the What Had Happened Was… podcast, it was his idea to put the pair together for what would become Cannibal Ox. He reportedly took them out to dinner and pitched them the idea, and they both agreed. During the process of recording the album, the duo relocated to El-P’s three-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn, holing up to smoke weed, play video games, and record a classic album.
Part of the reason Cannibal Ox and The Cold Vein worked so well was because of both emcees’ contrasting lyrical styles and approaches to rapping. Vast Aire lives up to every bit of his name; he’s a 6’7”, 300+ lbs. hulking man mountain with an almost indescribable delivery and voice (it should be noted that he speaks exactly how he raps). Some have said that he had taken years to refine some of the verses that appeared on The Cold Vein, sharpening them into adamantium spikes to pierce souls. Throughout the album, he raps like he has “The Glow,” for The Last Dragon (1986) fans out there, spitting some of the illest lines and capturing some of the most vivid images ever recorded. He launches his verses like focused, laser-guided missiles.
Meanwhile, Vordul raps like an unstoppable dynamo, often attacking the mic like the cartoon Tasmanian Devil. He unleashes lengthy streams of lyrics effortlessly, sometimes without ever seeming like he’s taking a breath. Often, it seems like he’ll start freestyling mid-verse, and lets off another 40 bars without breaking a sweat. Atoms Family member Alaska speculated on his Call Out Culture podcast that Vordul’s “trigger word” in order to determine if he’s freestyling is “trapped.
Even with these two disparate approaches, Vordul and Vast had a magnificent chemistry. Each of their verses always complemented the other’s in seamless ways. El-P revealed that while they were in the studio, the two developed their language and slang to communicate with the other. This resulted in one of the all-time great performances by a rap duo on an album. El-P worked absolute magic behind the boards, crafting a pitch-perfect soundscape for The Cold Vein. The beats go from dark and mechanical to soaring and inspirational.
It says something that El-P utilized Cannibal Ox and The Cold Vein as the cornerstone of Def Jux. In 2000, the first offering from the label was a double vinyl single featuring tracks by Company Flow (the short-lived configuration with El-P and Mr. Len) and another by Can Ox—their 12” spotlight “Iron Galaxy,” the track most frequently associated with the group.
“Iron Galaxy” exemplifies the duo’s version of NYC. Vordul and Vast illustrate a place that’s “evil at its core” and where “death is the median.” It’s a bleak worldview to open The Cold Vein, encapsulated by Vordul’s initial observation that “life’s ill; sometimes life might kill.” Meanwhile, Vast traverses the city as a character out of Eve’s Bayou, reading the thoughts of every fan he comes across. He crystalizes the existence of NYC’s forgotten residents, rapping, “Crack heads stand adjacent / Anger displacement from food stamp arrangements / You were a still born baby, mother didn’t want you / But you were still born.”
“Vein,” the album’s proper lead single, similarly zeroes in on the stress and danger that can envelop the lives of NYC residents. Vast encounters a gun-toting pre-teen, soon opting to confront the one who sold him the piece, the scruple-less Carlos the Midget; it quickly devolves into bloody violence. Vordul records the initial and closing verses, struggling to cope with the anxiety, but resolves to persevere. Possibly both of his verses are freestyled (certainly the final verse), but he maintains incredible clarity of thought, rapping, “Twisted up, high off the reefer / Lost beyond regions of logic and reason, just being / We high? So be it, not so obedient to society’s laws and limitations.”
“A B-Boy Alpha” is one of the great coming-of-age hip-hop tracks. It certainly makes an impression right out of the gate, as Vast delivers one of the most startling opening lines ever: “My mother said, ‘You sucked my pussy when you came out don’t ever talk back / I handed you life and I'll snatch it back.’” Afterwards, he paints an evocative account of discovering hip-hop at a young age. “Flows be banging in the paint, throwing elbows,” he raps. “My first fight was me against five boroughs.”
Vordul devotes his verse to his youthful indiscretions, getting into all types of trouble on the block, while making sure to dodge the authorities in the process. “Trouble lose kid, puffing a loosie,” he recalls. “Hopping off Huffy’s, stealing Marvel comics and water Uzis / All of us canoeing through sewers with juvenile maneuvers / Caught up in nooses from borders with troubleshooters.”
Other tracks on The Cold Vein almost defy description with their unconventionality. Listening to “Raspberry Fields” is a disorienting experience, and the group has said it was designed to duplicate the sensation pf being stoned. El-P mashes layers of guitars, wails, and possibly bagpipes into a dense, cacophonous assault. It becomes such a bizarre and overwhelming listening experience that even the fact that Vast flubs his verse and quickly restarts it again doesn’t even seem that odd.
Though Vast and Vordul handle most of the rapping duties on Cold Vein themselves, they do occasionally bring in other compatriots to join them. Atoms Family cohorts Alaska and Cryptic One appear on the appropriately named “Atom,” as all four “pop apocalypse” over El-P’s dark and brooding track. “Battle For Asgard” is a confrontational free-for-all featuring C-Rayz Walz and L.I.F.E. Long, both members of the similarly expansive NYC-based Stronghold collective. While both Stronghold members bring the goods, Vast and Vordul swagger across the track like the lyrical versions of Galactus and the Silver Surfer. Vordul sounds like he’s swallowed a cup of razor blades as he announces his presence, rapping, “Mega with his arms folded, fists balled up / Toast on the side of my waist, V on the buckle of the belt / Rap in hell, cape flowing / Still standing with two cannons.”
El-P joins the duo to rap on two separate tracks. First is the sinister “Ox Out the Cage,” which sounds like the theme song to a prison riot, or the world’s most evil open mic night. El and Vast trade verses to open the song, with Vast proclaiming, “We use bear traps to catch weasels / Metal mouth's diesel and the bite's lethal.”
“Ridiculoid” is more of a lyrical sprint, with El-P crafting a blend of keys, distorted guitar fuzz, and neck-snapping drums. El has since revealed that the song was originally intended for his first solo album, Fantastic Damage (2002), which he was still planning at the time. Here’s it’s definitely at peace with the rest of the album, a fast-paced crescendo to set-up The Cold Vein’s contemplative final act.
And what a final act it is. The Cold Vein features what is arguably my favorite closing movement on any album. It starts with “Painkillers,” a bleak yet still funky track. Both emcees discuss the use of drugs and alcohol to numb anxiety and cope with the world around them. Their reflections, tinged with a resigned desperation, are just as complex as rapper Scarface’s early material. “Trying to escape out of the depths of hell’s nest,” Vordul raps. “So, I rest inhale the trauma blessed / And let the stress exhale through clouds of cess / My mind foggy and body wet.”
The Cold Vein closes with a perfect one-two punch of despair, followed by dreams of salvation. First is “Pigeon,” where the pair envision themselves as the lowest of all birds. The track fits in for the album’s themes of feeling trapped in the desolate streets of New York. They reflect on succumbing to an environment that’s unforgiving and seemingly designed to ensure their failure.
Things draw to a close with “Scream Phoenix,” which serves as a summation of the journey that Can Ox has taken. The pair explain how they’ve taken their pain and allowed it to make them stronger, now evolving into the “most high of all things to ever have wings.” El-P unbridles a shimmering track, filled with ethereal disembodied voices, while Vast and Vordul each dispense stirring verses. “Street peasants with these lessons,” Vordul raps. “Live, build, and pass away, and keep stressing / Thinking how we gonna master days / With passion, that’s why we rap this way.”
Vast’s vocals pulse with energy as he describes his own transformation, inspired by his ascendancy to make the world a better place. “Existence is struggle, resistance is futile,” he announces. “Meanwhile we now possess the power of ten suns / To transcend and elevate into one / Famine, the disease and senseless dying is done.”
Unfortunately, this was the first and last album that Cannibal Ox and El-P worked on together. Since releasing Cold Vein, the crew had talked about working with other producers along with El, but a complete album never seemed to coalesce. Vordul reportedly dealt with both substance abuse and mental health issues that sidelined his career. Both he and Vast each put out pretty good solo albums in 2004, but didn’t provide the Can Ox fix their audience was clamoring for.
Eventually, El-P and Vast engaged in some contentious and ugly online exchanges over where things were with a second Cannibal Ox album. I’ll forgo the details, but suffice to say in certainly appeared to dead any chances of a follow-up album with all three parties. Vast and Vordul eventually recorded Can Ox’s sophomore album, Blade of the Ronin (2015). It was a competent undertaking, but wasn’t nearly as good as The Cold Vein.
These days, Vordul is essentially retired from rapping, while Vast Aire has released material over the last decade and a half. As Vast recently told the Dad Bad Rap Pod podcast, he’s currently involved with his Crimson Godz crew and the Iron Galaxy clique, and plans to soon put out a new Can Ox album, Metal Gods. Reportedly it will feature some, but limited, involvement from Vordul, and possibly production from El-P.
Would I have liked another complete Cannibal Ox and El-P team-up? Of course. But maybe it’s best the lightning struck once, and the three never tried to will something into existence that wasn’t happening organically. I’ll always be happy to have this self-contained piece of hip-hop perfection, standing on its own like the Catch-22 or Dark City of hip-hop.
Note: As an Amazon affiliate partner, Albumism may earn commissions from purchases of vinyl records, CDs and digital music featured on our site.
LISTEN: