Los Angeles, CA — With the release of Crotus, Los Angeles rapper Deucestacks delivers a record that is both mythic in scope and unflinchingly personal. Across eight tracks, he blends cinematic production with razor-sharp lyricism, weaving stories of survival, ambition, resentment, and swagger into a project that confronts and captivates.

A Cinematic Opening Arc

The album begins with Euphrates and Tigris, twin tracks that embody urgency and shadow. Euphrates bursts forward at 144 BPM with shimmering trap percussion and cinematic highs, setting an atmosphere of ambition and movement. In contrast, Tigris slows into a darker, bass-driven reflection, pulling the listener into weight and gravity. Together, they establish a duality at the heart of Crotus: urgency versus reflection, myth versus memory.

Archery follows with deliberate precision. At 123 BPM, its bright, focused production mirrors the metaphor of the bow: discipline, control, and the accuracy of Deucestacks’ pen. Then comes Like You, the longest track on the record and its emotional centerpiece. Slowed to 112 BPM, with warm melodic layers, it opens space for reflection and vulnerability, proving that the project is not just about aggression but also about honesty.

The Fight Returns

Midway through the album, the mood shifts back to combat mode. Shadowboxing bristles with sparring energy at 133 BPM, its crisp percussion and agile flow embodying verbal duels and self-confrontation. Disconnection Notice, at 136 BPM, delivers a short, urgent jolt — loud, polished, and direct — a track that hits hard while reflecting the tension of distance, isolation, and survival.

Ambition and Consequence

Midas gleams with dangerous brightness. At 120 BPM, its sharp-edged production captures the allure and curse of ambition: the hunger for more, gilded in jagged textures. Here, Deucestacks flips myth into metaphor, warning of the weight that comes with reaching too high.

Finally, the album closes with I Need Two Bitches. Slowed to 95 BPM but brighter and jagged in tone, it’s brash, swaggering, and unapologetic. Distorted textures and booming 808s leave listeners with an exclamation point rather than a fade, a final statement that embodies ego, hunger, and refusal to compromise.

Lyrics as Confession and Myth

Beyond the production, Crotus is powered by Deucestacks’ pen. His verses cut between resentment toward an absent father, loyalty to his mother, and ambition to escape being weighed down by circumstance. “Only weighed down momma / She anchored wit problem / Free from my father / There tribute for her,” he raps, turning family history into myth. Elsewhere, he flips braggadocio into larger-than-life imagery: “Go Mega / Go Monster / They copy mechanics / Somehow I conquered.”

The result is an album that feels both ancient and immediate — fusing Mesopotamian rivers, Greek mythology, and West Coast grit into a single body of work.

A Voice Rising from Los Angeles

With Crotus, Deucestacks cements himself as one of Los Angeles’ most compelling underground voices. The record is jagged, bold, and alive, refusing to sit quietly in the background. Like the rivers it’s named after, Crotus flows with urgency and gravity — a work that demands to be confronted head-on.