The Flobots’ five-year hiatus came to an end at the perfect time to create anthems of resistance in the current social and political climate of the United States.
To say that the album Noenemies is an attack on the Trump administration, the GOP or party politics as a whole would be a narrow-minded view of the project. Over boom-bap drum beats with melancholy and ominous melodies, the Flobots sing and rap against those who are in power and critique the society we live in that creates many have-nots and few, powerful haves.
Though the group’s anti-establishment platform is incredibly evident on the album, aligning with anarchist and socialist principles, the group has distanced themselves from the brand of the Democratic Party. However, their ideas make themselves more of an enemy of the right than of the left.
After leading with several songs tiptoeing around social commentary and speaking in vague statements that communicate only their ideals, Brer Rabbit raps, “gutter struggle is where the blood reeks” and “the lambs no longer silent/ keep on singing this song” on the third track, “Blood in the River,” nebulously embodying the Flobots’ ideas of power and injustice.
The album takes a sharp turn into more specific and pointed social commentary on track six, “American Dreams,” and maintains this hunger and aggression throughout the album. The sheer force and athleticism of Johnny 5 and Brer Rabbit’s rapping demands the listener’s respect as they change their rhythms, intonations and pace with incredible ease.
Just past the halfway mark, the album culminates with an incredible track — “Pray,” which blends folk rap and rock seamlessly with the Flobots’ vocal talent. The song references blood on the leaves, racist nursery rhymes and the injustice faced by suffragettes and today’s Black Lives Matter movement.
The chorus of the song implores the listener to “pray the pale white devil back to hell,” hoping the audience will reflect on the harm caused by European expansion into America and other imperialist conquests across the world.
The album concludes with an intense track titled “Sleeping Giant,” which again utilizes the unique sound of this Flobots album with folk-styled choruses and rap rock verses and interludes, using fast-paced drums to keep time throughout. As they do throughout the album, the Flobots incite populist activism, championing the power of the people compared to the ruling class. We are the sleeping giant those in power fear awakening.
The Flobots bring this unique sound in conjunction with a very familiar philosophical perspective — the project speaks to the resistance movement in the current political atmosphere as not just a manifesto, but also a rallying cry.
