Spiritual Cramp & RXK Nephew Team Up For New Song “Hospital Bombing”: Listen

On the surface, Spiritual Cramp and RXK Nephew do not seem to have too much in common. Spiritual Cramp are an extremely cool San Francisco punk band with a great live show and a very real sense of style. They recently released their singles “Phone Lines Down” and “Nah, That Ain’t It.” RXK Nephew is an internet-beloved cult-rapper from Rochester who was a Stereogum Artist To Watch last year. He’s got a deranged, all-over-the-place style and a tendency to release more music than any sane person could process. Earlier this summer, Nephew teamed up with DJ Rude One for the collaborative album The ONEderful Nephew, but he’s since returned to throwing new track up on YouTube willy-nilly.

Now, a new RXK Nephew song on YouTube has an unlikely distinction. It’s called “Hospital Bombing,” and it’s a collaboration with Spiritual Cramp. Spiritual Cramp and Nephew played a show together in San Francisco earlier this year, and it’s cool to think that they found some common purpose, some deeper bond. On “Hospital Bombing,” they almost make sense together.

“Hospital Bombing” shows Spiritual Cramp indulging their dub-reggae side, which is something they explore every so often. The song has some of the same spectral creep as the Clash’s dub tracks or the Specials’ “Ghost Town.” It’s also got RXK Nephew throwing on a fake Jamaican accent and getting abstract. I hope they do “Hospital Bombing” live together sometime; that would be fun. Listen below.