Lacuna by Defcee and knowsthetime

In the Michael Gondry film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, protagonist Joel Barish (played by Jim Carrey) aims to have all memories of his ex-girlfriend, Clementine (played by Kate Winslet), completely erased from his brain. The company that implements this cutting-edge treatment is called Lacuna, Inc. The word “lacuna” has multiple definitions, according to Merriam-Webster: “an unfilled space or interval; a gap; a missing portion in a book or manuscript; a cavity or depression, especially in bone.”

The new album from rapper Defcee and producer knowsthetime--the fourth in a series of collaborations between the two released in 2019, two of which were released alongside rapper CRASHprez as the trio defprez--is named Lacuna. It addresses material that Defcee has hinted at but never explored, those memories he wants to discard, but still return to him. There’s the hometown where he was raised (“Pleasantville II” and “Pleasantville III”); the party-going kids with whom he grew up, some of whom now fully within the grip of addiction (“Memoirs,” the perspective-shifting “The Poor Little Rich / devil n me,” where Def raps from his own point-of-view and that of one of his peers); the awkward break-up (“Simp (But Of Course)”); Adderall prescriptions and the process of weaning himself off of them (“25mg”); and the deaths of friends that continue to haunt him (“awakeinthemourning”). For everything else, there’s even “A List of What I Want to Forget the Most.”

This album is Defcee confronting his past, openly and honestly, for the first time in his music. It’s a difficult twenty-four minutes that still rewards repeat listening and deep dives into the lyrics. It’s Defcee’s finest work thus far, one that could only have happened with knowsthetime behind the boards.

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